The number of Catholic marriage ceremonies fell last year compared to 2022, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.
There were 7,256 Catholic marriage ceremonies in 2023, making up 35.4% of the total of 21,159.
It is down from 9,376 Catholic ceremonies the previous year, which was 40% of the total of 22,555.
The percentage of civil ceremonies increased from 26.2% in 2022 to 31.6% in 2023.
Over 1,710 ceremonies last year were Humanist and the Spiritualist Union of Ireland performed 1,674 (7.9%) ceremonies.
There were 242 Church of Ireland ceremonies in 2023, making up just 1.1% of total marriages.
Nearly 3,470 (16%) couples opted for other religious ceremonies.
Overall, the number of marriages was down 8.7% on the previous year, but it exceeded the pre-pandemic 2019 figure by 4.2%.
The average age of people getting married is broadly unchanged.
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For opposite-sex marriages, the average groom in 2023 was 37.7 years old and the average bride was 35.8 years old, changed slightly from 37.8 and 35.7 years old respectively in 2022.
For same-sex marriages the changing ages were more pronounced, with the average age of men up to 40.8 years from 40 in 2022, while for women it fell to 38 from 40 in 2022.
As regards when people are getting married, Friday remains the most popular day of the week while August is the most popular month.
In 2022, July was the most popular month.
The least popular day and month, Sunday and January, remain unchanged from 2022.
Just 665 marriage ceremonies took place in January last year.
Flexibility around locations
One wedding celebrant based in Bray, Co Wicklow said she has noticed that "year-on-year there are more enquiries and more bookings" for non-religious marriage ceremonies and a "real mix of reasons why."
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Barbara Ryan said that one of the main reasons was flexibility in locations, often meaning that the marriage ceremony, the celebration - and possibly the day after - could all be in the same venue.
She added that couples want a ceremony that is "focused on them, the reasons why they love each other, and perhaps they have some children and they want to have them included in the ceremony."
If the legal paperwork is done in the registry office beforehand, it gives couples the chance to have ceremonies in the "most unusual and fantastic places around Ireland", she said.
