New data from the past year has revealed the most popular day of the week — and month — for couples to tie the knot.
With events and celebrations often coming with a hefty price tag, there can be an incentive to target the less common times of the week or the year.
But hosting a wedding mid-week could force your guests to take time off work, and opting for winter could be a gamble with the weather.
Hannah Hart, who works in the wedding industry, opted for a Tuesday for her own wedding day, saying "I'm personally the biggest sucker for a weekday wedding."
However, the figures show she and her husband remain in the minority. Statistics supplied to 1News by the Department of Internal Affairs showed Saturday still prevails as the most popular day to get hitched in New Zealand.
Registrar-General of Birth, Deaths and Marriages Russell Burnard said of the data up to and including the 2025 calendar year, Saturdays accounted for 8902 marriages, or 45% of all weddings recorded.
Friday was the second most popular day, with 3900 marriages, making up 20% of the total.
Together, Friday and Saturday hosted nearly two-thirds of all weddings.
Weekend weddings dominated overall, with Sunday also attracting 1580 marriages, or 8%. Thursday matched Sunday, also on 8%.
Early-week weddings were less common. Monday recorded 1314 marriages (7%), while Tuesday and Wednesday were the least popular days, with 1233 and 1265 marriages respectively, (6% each).
"The popularity of specific dates varies from year to year, but the day of the week remains the key factor," Burnard said.
Are weekday weddings a cost saver?
Wedding venues and other vendors such as caterers, bartenders and DJs typically charge premium rates for Saturday bookings, particularly during the peak summer season.
Hart, a wedding vendor and content creator at Dear Brides, said she didn’t initially set out to be married on a Tuesday in winter - but things simply fell into place.
"We didn't necessarily choose it for the cost, but it was just an added bonus. I just personally liked the idea of a Tuesday wedding, I thought it was different.
"I'm personally the biggest sucker for a weekday wedding. My sister got married on a Monday, and as a wedding vendor I think it is literally the coolest thing ever."
The 27-year-old said there were also specific companies she had in mind, which would not have been available during the peak summer season.
"And as wedding vendors we all go 'hooray!' when someone chooses a weekday because weekends are just, I personally think, they're quite overrated and very expensive.
"We know that most people are around on a Tuesday, people don’t really have to go away on a Tuesday and we had a lot of people in our family going 'are you sure you’ve got the date correct?' But we thought it was sick."
Hart said for her wedding day, the 22 guests didn’t even need to use a day of annual leave – and they were home by 8.30pm.
“I think my sister took like half a day off. Some people took like an hour off because I think the ceremony started at 4pm, so they had to be seated by 3.45pm.”
She said couples could potentially save 20% - 30% on their costs by looking at less popular days and months.
Which month is the most popular?
Wedding season in New Zealand typically runs from November to March, with those five months accounting for nearly 60% of all marriages in 2025.
February was the most popular month for weddings in 2025, with 2711 marriages, accounting for 14% of the annual total. March followed with 2538 (13%), while January recorded 2235 (11%).
Overall, the first three months of the year accounted for 38% of all marriages in 2025, highlighting the popularity of late summer and early autumn for weddings.
Wedding numbers declined through autumn and winter, reaching their lowest levels in June and July. June recorded 800 and July 785, (each 4%). August remained relatively quiet, with 945 marriages (5%).
Numbers began to recover in spring, with 1108 marriages in September (6%) and 1622 in October (8%). The wedding season then picked up sharply, with 2191 in November (11%) before easing slightly to 1903 in December (10%) when the holiday season puts other demands on people's time.
Hart, who married in June, said: “We were told by other people, 'oh, you're going to have a miserable day. It's going to be really windy and rainy' – but it was the most perfect day.”
She said summer weddings were beautiful – but brides and grooms could face challenges including "uncomfortable" heat.
"As someone who has been in the industry for five years, I would say April's a really lovely month where it's just a little bit cooler,” she said.
What about the ultimate day of romance - February 14?
In 2026 to date, Burnard said Valentine's Day was the most popular wedding date, with 397 couples choosing to marry on February 14, which fell on a Saturday.
"Despite its reputation as the ultimate day of romance, the day of the week that Valentine's Day falls on is often the key factor in its popularity as a wedding date," said Burnard.
In contrast, Valentine's Day ranked only 23rd in 2025, with 187 couples choosing to marry on what was a Friday that year.
Public holidays appear to be less influential. Waitangi Day, the Matariki public holiday, and other public holidays did not feature among the 100 most popular wedding dates.
Burnard at Births, Deaths and Marriages says "we are not seeing evidence of an increase in midweek weddings", but noted that Kiwis were continuing to marry later in life.
"In 2025, people aged 30-39 were the largest group formalising their relationships, with 16,544 people registering to marry and a further 53 registering for a civil union. Together, they accounted for 41% of all registrations, compared with 34% for those aged 20-29," he said.
"This marks a shift from 2016, when 42% of people who married were aged 29 or younger and 34% were in their 30s."
Marriage numbers peaked at 23,986 in 2018 before falling sharply during the Covid-19 pandemic, hitting a low of 15,830 in 2021 when venues were sometimes under restrictions.
Registrations have since recovered but remained below pre-pandemic levels at 19,985 in 2025.
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