With this recovery I thee wed: marriages hit a five-year high

There were 392 civil partnership ceremonies in 2014, 242 male unions and 150 female

The number of marriages registered in the State last year was the highest since 2009 while the average age of brides and grooms in Ireland last year was the oldest on record.

A total of 22,045 marriages were registered in Ireland last year, an increase of 1,365 marriages compared to 2013.

The 2014 figure equates to a marriage rate of 4.8 per 1,000 of the population meaning, 150 years after it was first recorded, the marriage rate in Ireland is now the same as it was in 1864.

Irish brides and grooms are now older than ever before: the average groom was 35-years-old last year while the average bride was 33.

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A total of 392 civil partnerships, which came into force on January 1st 2011 to enable same-sex couples to obtain legal recognition of their relationship, were registered in 2014. This figure included 242 male unions and 150 female unions.

The average age of partners in civil partnership couples was 37.8 years; the average age of male partners stood at 36.8 last year while the average age of female partners was 39.5. Of the 784 individual partners, some 753 or 96 per cent were previously single while 3.5 per cent were divorcees.

Over three quarters of the same-sex couples who entered into civil partnerships in 2014 live in Leinster with over half living in Dublin city.

Religious ceremonies accounted for the highest proportion of marriages making up over two thirds of marriages which took place last year.

While Roman Catholic weddings remain the most popular accounting for over 59 per cent of ceremonies carried out in 2014, this marked a decrease of 3 per cent on the 2013 figure.

Meanwhile 445 weddings, or 2 per cent of marriages registered last year, were Church of Ireland ceremonies.

Civil marriages were the second most popular ceremony-type making up 28 per cent of all marriages registered last year. A further 895 marriages, or 4.1 per cent, were carried by the Humanist Association while a total of 819 unions, or 3.7 per cent were carried out by the Spiritualist Union of Ireland.

Brides and grooms in civil marriages taking part in civil ceremonies tended to be older than those who had religious ceremonies: the average age of the groom in a civil ceremony stood at 37.6 years compared to 33.5 years in a Catholic ceremony while the average bride in a civil marriages was 35-years-old compared to the average Catholic bride was 31.7 years at the time of marriage.

August was the most popular month for marriage in 2014 with 14 per cent of marriages taking place in that month.

The most popular date for weddings that month was Saturday the 2nd with 276 marriages, over 1 per cent all weddings last year, taking place that day.

New Year’s Eve weddings were also popular with 255 couples tying the knot on December 31st.

Friday and Saturday remain the most popular days of the week to get married with over two thirds of weddings taking place on one or the other while Sundays were the least popular.

Over 88 per cent of marriages were the first marriage for both the groom and bride while there were 2,451 marriages involving at least one divorced person in 2014.