Civil services popularity rises over a religious wedding
Tuesday October 20, 2009
Australian wedding ceremonies are turning to civil services more than religious based ones according to data for 2009, indicating an overall trend for Australian weddings.
So far in 2009 there have been 27,350 marriages in NSW alone, with 17,469 wedding ceremonies being led by civil celebrants, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. This figure represents around 64 per cent of all NSW wedding services held in 2009, a figure that continues to climb from year to year.
This is quite an increase from 2002 when civil ceremonies began to rise in popularity with that year's result being 17,613 church services and 18,192 civil service weddings.
Over the last seven years civil services have become a more popular choice for many Australian couples wedding ceremonies as the population in general moves away from organised religion and church services.
Apparently much of this increase in the level of civil ceremonies is attributed to the rising popularity of the registry office wedding, a service that has increased by 37 per cent since 2004.
John Hatzistergos, NSW Attorney-General, stated that many people are now opting for the registry office wedding due to the expense and minimal fuss involved. As it stands now a wedding held at these offices will cost under $500.
"Registry office marriages are simple but elegant and growing in popularity every year," Mr Hatzistergos said.
The civil service is said to be becoming more popular as a choice for a wedding due to its flexibility when it comes to the venue or location for the service, along with the changing stance on religion with a great many couples.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for 2008 have also shown that people are waiting longer to get married with the average age being 27.7 years for women and 29.6 years for men.
