The day of the week on which couples marry.

Saturday is the most popular day to marry: two thirds of all marriages in England and Wales take place then. However, Saturday marriages are not so popular as they were-in 1979, over three quarters of weddings were solemnised on Saturdays. Civil marriages are seven times as likely as religious marriages to take place during the week: the proportions were one in 2, and one in 14, respectively, in 1994. Friday was the relatively most frequent weekday. There was a small peak of weddings on St Valentine's Day in 1994-which fell on a Monday-particularly amongst couples both of whom were remarrying after divorce. The analyses in this article are based on new data on marriages by day of the week in England and Wales. These will be routinely published from 1994 onwards in the ONS annual reference volumes Marriage and divorce statistics (FM2 series).