The official figures, published by the Office for National Statistics, indicated that of the 232,990 marriages that took place in England and Wales during 2008, 63.14 per cent of them were ceremonies where both were marrying for the first time.

This is an increase on three years previously, when 59.9 per cent of marriages were when both were celebrating for the first time, and reverses a long-running trend for people to remarry after divorcing. Sociologists suggested that during the 1970s and 1980s it was common for divorced couples to go on to remarry. However, the expense of weddings, the higher age of both marrying and divorcing couples, and the social acceptability of cohabiting has meant that second marriages were falling from favour.

For the first time in four years, the number of marriages for first time couples has increased  not just in percentage terms, but in real terms. There were 147,130 ceremonies where both partners were being married for the first time, up from 146,220 the year before. Marriages, where one or both had been wed before, fell from 89,150 to 85,860 during 2008.