In July, August and September 2003, 3,376 marriages were held in the A.C. of the Basque Country, meaning a 7.1% decrease in relation to the same quarter of the previous year. By provinces, 1,728 weddings involved residents of Bizkaia, followed by 1,029 from Gipuzkoa and 456 from Álava. There were 163 weddings in the case of residents from outside of the A.C. of the Basque Country.

July is the most popular month to get married

July was the month with the most weddings (1,344), compared to 1,315 that were held in September. In contrast, August was once more the summer month when there were least weddings (717).

There was a notable increase in the number of weddings held in church in the third term. Compared to the winter months, when more than half the ceremonies were civil, in this period 71.2 % of weddings held were religious. In Alava church weddings accounted for 64.3% of the total, in Gipuzkoa it was 68% and in Bizkaia the figure was as high as 73.6%.

Of the 3,376 weddings held in the third quarter of 2003, 3,255 of the men who married and 3,334 of the women were residents of the A.C. of the Basque Country. For 3,099 bridegrooms (95.2%) this was their first marriage, while there were 20 widowers and 136 divorced men who remarried. The percentage of women for whom this was their first marriage was similar to that of men, coming to 3,179 (95.4%), while there were 10 widows and 145 divorcees.

As regards distribution of marriages according to the age of the bride and groom 61.3% of men were over 30, while among women this percentage came to 40.6%.