Choosing a date
The best month to get married in Ireland, by the numbers
By Weddingz ·
The short version
- August is the most popular month, with about 2,733 weddings in an average year. January is the quietest, with 612.
- No month is reliably dry. The share of dry days runs from 51% in January to 57% in September.
- What really changes is warmth and light: 18°C afternoons in July, and sunset anywhere from 16:13 in December to 22:02 in June.
Ask ten married couples for the best month and you get ten answers, most of them the month they chose. So here are the figures instead: how many couples pick each month, and what the weather and the light have done in it over thirty years.
Every month side by side
| Month | Weddings a year | Dry days | Afternoon high | Sunset, mid-month | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 612 | 51% | 8°C | 16:42 | 8h 02m |
| February | 803 | 53% | 8°C | 17:41 | 9h 49m |
| March | 1,168 | 56% | 10°C | 18:35 | 11h 46m |
| April | 1,455 | 54% | 12°C | 20:31 | 13h 57m |
| May | 1,755 | 54% | 14°C | 21:25 | 15h 51m |
| June | 2,073 | 55% | 17°C | 22:02 | 16h 59m |
| July | 2,446 | 52% | 18°C | 21:54 | 16h 32m |
| August | 2,733 | 53% | 18°C | 21:03 | 14h 51m |
| September | 2,333 | 57% | 16°C | 19:51 | 12h 46m |
| October | 1,855 | 54% | 13°C | 18:38 | 10h 40m |
| November | 1,272 | 51% | 10°C | 16:37 | 8h 40m |
| December | 1,811 | 52% | 8°C | 16:13 | 7h 32m |
Weddings are the average for 2011 to 2024, from the Central Statistics Office. Weather is the average of 7 places around the island for 1991 to 2020; a dry day is one with less than 1 mm of rain. Sunset and daylight are for the 15th of the month in the midlands.
The popular choice: June to September
June, July, August and September hold 47% of all weddings. The reason is in the last two columns, not the weather one: the afternoons are warmest and the evenings are long enough for photos after dinner. The cost is competition: far more couples are after the same venues, photographers and bands, so book those first.
The surprise: the weather column is nearly flat
Look down the dry days column. There are only 6 points between the best month and the worst. Picking a month for dry weather doesn't work in Ireland. Choosing a venue with a good room for when it rains does. These are modelled figures, which count more wet days than a rain gauge would, so read each one as the cautious view.
The shoulder months: April, May, September, October
May has 14°C afternoons and a sunset at 21:25, with about 36% fewer weddings than August. September is still mild at 16°C, though the evenings close in: sunset is 19:51 by mid-month. If you want summer light without the summer queue, these are the months to ask venues about first.
Winter, and the December exception
January has the fewest weddings of any month and 8h 02m of daylight. That makes for short photo windows and a lot of candlelight, and with so few weddings on, suppliers have far more free dates. December breaks the pattern: it has 1,811 weddings a year, more than April, and about a third of them fall on just four days. The full ranking of dates shows it: the four busiest dates of the whole year are 28 to 31 December.
So which month?
Choose on light, warmth and availability, and plan for rain whatever you pick. Then check the exact date: our wedding date checker gives the weekday, the dry-day record for your part of the country, the sunset time and the last day for legal notice.
Sources
- Central Statistics Office, table VSA113: Marriages Dates from 2011
- Open-Meteo historical weather API (ERA5 reanalysis)
Checked on 13 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. Rules and fees change, so confirm with the official source before you rely on them.