Just 35% of marriages were Catholic ceremonies, with civil ceremonies now accounting for 32%, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.
The statistics also show that fewer people got married in 2023 than the year before and the average age of people getting married went up.
Of the 21,159 marriages registered in Ireland last year, some 646 were same-sex marriages — up 4.5% from 618 in 2022.
But while the number of marriages fell by 8.7% in 2023 compared with 2022, the overall number of marriages in 2023 exceeded pre-pandemic 2019 figures by 4.2%.
The average age for brides and grooms increased to 35.8 years for brides and to 37.7 years for grooms in 2023, when compared to 2022.
In 2023, the average age of males in same-sex marriages was 40.8 years, while the average age of females in same-sex marriages was 38 years.
Friday was the most popular day to get married, while August was the most popular month to wed for opposite sex couples, whereas July was the most popular month for same-sex couples to marry in 2023.
The number of marriages celebrated in Ireland in 2023 was down by almost 9% on 2022 figureshttps://t.co/Nscjr0LsmC#CSOIreland #Ireland #VitalStatistics #VitalStats #Marriages #Statistics pic.twitter.com/FtTtXBHybq
— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) April 26, 2024
CSO Vital Statistics Section statistician Seán O’Connor said: “January was the least favoured month to tie the knot for opposite-sex marriages, while February was the least appealing month to those in same-sex marriages.
“Friday and Saturday continue to be the most popular days for wedding ceremonies for opposite-sex couples, while Friday, followed by Thursday were the most favoured days to wed for same-sex couples.
“This has not changed since 2022. For all couples, Sundays and Mondays were the least popular days of the week to marry.”
In 2023, religious ceremonies accounted for 60% of all marriages.
There were 7,256 (34%) Catholic marriage ceremonies, 242 (1.1%) Church of Ireland ceremonies, the Spiritualist Union of Ireland performed 1,674 (7.9%) ceremonies and 3,468 (16%) couples opted for other religious ceremonies.
The majority of non-religious ceremonies were civil marriages which accounted for 32% (6,808) of all marriages and the remaining 1,711 (8.1%) couples had Humanist ceremonies.