Insee Focus · February 2021 · n° 225

The seasonality of weddings from 1856 to 2019

In 2019, 225,000 weddings were celebrated in France, 60% of which took place during the summer period between June and September.

Getting married in the summer is a recent habit. From the middle of the 19^e century to the First World War, March and December were avoided for religious reasons and the summer period because of agricultural work. On the opposite, winter was the most chosen season, especially February.

From the inter-war period onwards, more and more weddings took place in April, while they became scarcer in winter. After the Second World War, future spouses avoided getting married in May, the "month of Mary" for Catholics, and marriages during the summer became more frequent with the democratisation of paid holidays.

From the mid-1970s onwards, in an increasingly secularised France, marriages were less frequent. They became more and more synonymous with celebration, more than an obligation. The choice then became more about a wedding in the summer months, between June and September.

Fifty years ago, 68% of weddings took place on Saturdays. This choice has increased since then and reached 82% in 2019.