Marriages rocketed by 12 per cent following the lifting of pandemic restrictions.

Over 240,000 marriages took place in England and Wales in 2022 - 12.3 per cent more than in 2019.

This contrasts with the decline in marriage in the last few decades. The 2022 figure was still well below the number in 1992, when 311,564 ceremonies took place.

Experts say the sudden uptick can be put down to people delaying getting married over lockdown and many couples choosing to simply co-habit rather than formally tie the knot during the ongoing Covid restrictions.

The number of marriages is expected to again have declined in 2023 amid the cost-of-living crisis, Sarah Jane Boon from law firm Charles Russell Speechlys said.

During the first Coronavirus lockdown in March 2020, weddings were banned, with restrictions on gatherings and face coverings remaining in place well into 2021.

In 2022 there were a total of 239,037 opposite sex marriages in addition to 7,800 same-sex marriage, increases of 12.2 per cent and 15.9 per cent from 2019, the Times reported.

The increase in marriage was starkest in Monmouthshire, Wales, where 67.4 per cent more couples tied the knot.

At the other end of the scale was Haringey, north London - where marriages fell by 51.1 per cent between 2019 and 2022. 

People are also waiting longer before getting married, figures confirm, with the median opposite-sex marriage age for men at 32.7 years and women at 31.2 years - the highest ages on record.

A record number of couples, 90%, reported living together before tying the knot.

But rather than the 'death of marriage', cohabitation is being seen as a sort of 'trial marriage', says Hall Brown Family Law senior associate Madeleine Hailey. 

Saturday July 30 was statistically the most popular day of 2022 to get married, with 3,608 ceremonies taking place on that date.