I recently came across this article online and I found the figures to make very interesting reading indeed. However I cannot take the credit (or the blame :-)) for any of the data published.  Below are the results of Irish Wedding Survey 2012, a wedding and civil partnership survey conducted by mrs2be.ie in conjunction with Annie Byrne of Aislinn Events.

Almost 1,350 brides and grooms were surveyed in detail which makes this Ireland’s largest and most comprehensive wedding survey to date.

What is the Irish Wedding Industry Worth?

Weddings are big business in Ireland. mrs2be.ie estimates that the Irish wedding industry is worth between €500 million and €1 billion annually. It is difficult to calculate an accurate figure because even though the amount couples spend tying the knot is known, there is also a huge level of related expenditure to consider. For example, guests who attend a wedding usually have a range of costs including wedding gifts, alcohol at the reception and overnight accomodation. There is also the spend on all those hen and stags, new outfits and beauty costs for attending guests to take into consideration.

What couple’s spent on their wedding in 2011

Other key findings arising from Irish Wedding Survey 2012

• 9 out of 10 engaged couples say that their wedding plans have somehow been affected by the tough economic conditions. It looks as if conditions have worsened recently as 7 out of 10 couples who got married in 2011 said they had been affected by the recession
• Overall cost of a wedding (excluding the honeymoon) has fallen from €23.4k in 2010 to €22.7k in 2011.
• Last year’s Irish Wedding Survey 2011 predicted a fall in budgets for 2012 (engaged brides were asked to provide a total cost for their upcoming weddings). The cost looks set to fall again in 2013 and beyond.
• December is by far the most popular month to get engaged. Just under 1 in 4 of all engagements happen in this one month. August is the second most popular month, but it is closely followed by October and September.
• Engagements are longer now than they were a few years back. More than 1 in 5 couples are now engaged for more than 2 years before tying the knot.
• Online wedding communities such as mrs2be.ie continue to be a hugely popular resource for helping couples to source and research their ideal suppliers for their weddings. This trend is continuing on an upward climb.
• Couples who got married in 2011 have indicated that were more influenced by quality but price also played a major role when it came to deciding between wedding suppliers and venues. For couples who are still engaged, the new emphasis is actually on price.
• The choice of reception venue and the photographer receive the highest spend priority during the planning. These are closely followed by the wedding dress and the band to play at the evening reception.
• In terms of what DIY projects couples undertake; favours, stationery, accessories and providing transportation on the day are the most popular. The wedding dress is the item least likely to undergo the DIY treatment. The DIY trend is still huge.
• Average guest numbers who were present for the full sit down meal were between 101 and 150.
• 2011 saw a large increase in couples using web technologies to help plan their wedding. Almost half of the couples surveyed indicated that they encouraged RSVPs via email which represents a 25% increase since 2010.
• Whoever said that social media is a waste of time? 28% of couples who got married in 2011 indicated that they sourced some of their suppliers directly through Facebook and Twitter. This is a sizeable increase from a figure of just 10% in the previous year. For engaged couples yet to marry, 37% indicated that they are using Facebook and Twitter to source some of their suppliers.
• There has been a notable increase in the number of wedding receptions being held in restaurants (3.4% in 2011 compared to 1% in 2010).