Civil weddings in Hampshire are topping the polls

Civil weddings in the UK are now outweighing religious ceremonies, particularly in Hampshire, according to latest figures.

The data was obtained by jewellery retailer Diamond Heaven, via the Freedom of Information (FOI) act which requested statistics from councils across the UK on how many religious and civil weddings were held between 1st June 2017 and 31st May 2018.

Of the 431 councils contacted, there were only 96 who had the relevant data to fully reply to the request. From the correct statistics obtained, there were 41,456 civil weddings held over the time period compared to 14,531 religious services - a whopping 183% difference between the two!

The top five councils with the most amount of civil weddings over the 12 months were:

Hampshire County Council - 5,675
Surrey County Council - 3,808
Derbyshire County Council - 3,103
Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea - 2,079
Manchester City Council - 1,827

Nicholas Carter, head of retail and development at Diamond Heaven commented, "All weddings are special and meaningful, but it's interesting to see what the difference is between the two most popular type of ceremonies. Going back a hundred or so years and this wouldn't of even been an option. However, it's fantastic to see such diversity when it comes to marriage in the UK.”