2013 Easy Weddings Australian wedding survey results

The results of Australia’s biggest, most comprehensive wedding survey are in and they show modern Aussie brides are anything but conventional when it comes to their big days.

According to the 2013 Easy Weddings’ Annual Australian Bridal Survey, the typical Australian bride is 28.6 years old, she supports gay marriage and does most of her wedding research online.

She and her hubby-to-be (aged 30.4) will split the cost of the wedding with both sets of parents and are engaged, on average, for 21 months before walking down the aisle.

These results were collated from several thousand national responses to the 2013 Easy Weddings’ Annual Australian Bridal Survey, which was conducted in August and September of 2013.

“While Australian brides are very traditional in some respects, they’re extremely modern in others,” says Matt Butterworth, Managing Director of Australia’s No.1 wedding destination, EasyWeddings.com.au.

“On one hand, it’s not surprising to see that after marriage, the top priorities for most couples are setting up a home and starting a family, but on the other hand, most couples support same-sex marriage, are able to pay for their own weddings rather than relying on parents and are opting for civil ceremonies over traditional religious ones.”

“And, of course, we know from last year’s survey that 85.8% of couples lived together before their weddings and 19.8% of respondents already had children, yet 87.7% of brides said they’d take their husband’s name after marriage. So, when it comes to weddings, it’s truly a case of something old meeting something new.”

Other interesting figures include:
– On average, brides spend $1788 on their wedding gowns
– 88.2% of respondents wed locally, while 7.1% marry interstate and 4.7% wed overseas
– 65.1% of couples honeymoon overseas while 8.9% honeymoon in their home state, 14.3% honeymoon interstate and 11.7% are not having a honeymoon
– October, November and March are the most popular months in which to marry
– June, July and January were the least popular months in which to marry
– 47.6% of couples are sharing the wedding costs with their parents, while 42.5% of couples were paying for the wedding by themselves. The remaining percentage said their wedding was being paid for by either one set of parents or the bride/groom separately
– The most popular wedding theme colours are blue, purple, white and pink

The 2013 Easy Weddings’ Annual Australian Bridal Survey showed a significant shift away from religious ceremonies, with 71.2% of respondents saying they would marry in a civil ceremony. That figure is up from 67.9% last year. This year, 24.5% said they would marry in a religious ceremony with the remaining 4.3% undecided or holding one of each.

The survey also confirmed that the average expected wedding budget was $19,295, though most Australian brides end up spending about $36,700* on their big days.

“The figure of $19,295 is a couple’s ‘expected budget’ not their final budget,’’ says Matt Butterworth, who started EasyWeddings.com.au more than a decade ago after himself becoming engaged. “In reality, we generally find that most couples tend to exceed their expected budget by about 50%.”

Most respondents (77.2%) believe gay marriage should be legalised while 9.7% do not. 13.1% of respondents said they were still undecided.

“These results show that, generally, modern couples want their wedding ceremonies and their marriages to truly reflect their lifestyles, beliefs and personalities,’’ says Butterworth. “The overall figures clearly show that even though couples have changed and traditions surrounding weddings have changed, people still want to get married and have a beautiful wedding day – they just want to do it their way.”

Snapshot: The typical Australian bride
Age (28.6 years)
Will marry in a civil ceremony (71.2% of respondents)
Intends to honeymoon overseas (65.1% of respondents)
Estimated wedding budget ($19,295)
Actual wedding budget ($36,700)
95 wedding guests (Down from an average of 105 guests last year)
Believes gay marriage should be legalised (77.2% of respondents; 9.7% did not believe in it and 13.1% of respondents were undecided)
Uses the internet to plan her wedding (94.9% of respondents)

*IBISWorld Australian wedding spending 2012