2010, Australia's most romantic year ever?

A record year for weddings in Australia, 2010 saw 121,753 marriages registered nationally, officially making it the biggest year for weddings recorded in Australia’s history.

The figure, compiled using data from the nation’s eight marriage registries, shows love was most definitely in the air in 2010, when the number of marriage and civil ceremonies taking place increased by 1.36 per cent over those that took place in 2009[1].

New South Wales led the charge to the altar with more than 41,000 couples tying the knot. Victoria came in at second place with 28,525 weddings, while Queensland was third with 25,827 ceremonies.

Western Australia played host to 12,683 weddings and South Australia, just 8167. The ACT and the NT registered the least number of marriages with our nation’s capital the site of 1,566 weddings, followed by NT where less than a thousand couples (954) said, “I do”.

The figure, which is the highest since records started being kept, includes traditional wedding services and civil ceremonies.

“There is a general perception that fewer people get married these days, but these figures suggest otherwise,’’ says Matt Butterworth, Managing Director of award-winning EasyWeddings.com.au, Australia’s No. 1 online destination for brides.

“According to the stats, 2010 was a record year for weddings in Australia with couples heading to the altar in droves to profess their love for each other. However, adds Butterworth, some couples were also influenced by the many auspicious dates that occurred in 2010, many of which won’t occur for centuries, or even millennia.”

“A number of brides on our site have told us they held off getting married until 2010 because of the possibility of having a truly unique wedding date of 10/10/10 or 01/01/10. “We once even had a couple tell us they waited several years to get hitched in 2010 because it would easier to keep track of how long they’d been married. But, of course, love was always the No.1 decider.”

Among the other notable Easy Weddings stories in 2010 are:
• Carol and Anthony (from Townsville, QLD) met in 2006, but married in 2010 four years to the day since Anthony’s first deployment in East Timor. They got engaged while he was on leave from deployment to Afghanistan and finally tied the knot when he returned from Afghanistan on October 30 last year.
• Engaged since they were 17 and 18, Caitlyn and David, from Queensland, waited nearly five years to get married so they could tie the knot on 10/04/10 because David dreamed of his wedding date many years earlier
• Adelaide couple Laura and Jonathon chose 2010 (October 1) as their wedding date to ensure they were able to get married before Jonathon’s third deployment to the Middle East with the RAAF.

Marriage figures for Australia, 2010:

NSW 41,454
VIC 28,525
QLD 25,827
WA 12,683
SA 8,167
TAS 2,577
ACT 1,566
NT 954
TOTAL: 121,753