The results of our One Fab Day wedding survey are in! Springtime is ring time, and with the season of love and engagements in the air, we’ve been asking our readers (all of YOU!) how you are planning and organising your wedding.
Based on the results of the survey of over 400 One Fab Day readers, conducted between Christmas 2025 and the first week of 2026 of both recently wed and recently engaged readers, we can now reveal FIVE interesting new findings about weddings in 2026 and beyond:
1. Mid-Sized Guest Lists Prevail and Venues are Secured Early
What size wedding are you planning? Well it seems that this year less of you are planning grand scale events (150 guests+) or micro occasions (15 or less guests), as our survey shows you are a very moderate lot.
- 32% of you are expecting 51–100 guests
- 26% are anticipating 101–150
- 23% of you are planning for under 50 guests
Of course, this doesn’t mean you are pulling back on the celebratory element, as 44% of you said you will be having a second day celebration. Notably, 27% of you secured your venue more than 18 months before their wedding, reflecting the competitive nature of venue availability. Results also show that most couples (69%) viewed between one and three venues prior to deciding, while comparatively few couples (16% or less) viewed four or more venues.
2. Long Engagements are Now the New Norm
As previously reported, long engagements, (generally defined as lasting longer than 12 to 18 months), have become increasingly common, with average engagement lengths now hovering around two years in this country. With the average wedding costing now over €36,000, often couples are extending their engagement to save money, avoid debt, and pay for the wedding themselves. While once considered unusual, a longer, “extended” engagement is now seen as a practical approach for modern couples. In recent stats, our survey confirmed 31% of people are you are engaged for two years before getting married, 55% finance your own wedding through savings and 70% of you are already homeowners before walking down the aisle.
3. Diamonds are Still on Top
The enduring appeal of diamonds remain the top choice for engagement in 2026, holding their status as a timeless symbol of love and commitment. 85% of you say your main ring stone is a diamond with 30% of you within that opting for lab grown diamonds.
4. Wedding Regrets, There’s Been a Few…
Common wedding regrets we hear often include overspending on unnecessary extras, being compromised on who to invite or skimping on videography. Often we are told that you wish you had felt more like yourself or taken more moments throughout the day to pause and reflect. In our survey 33% of you said you would change something about your wedding:
- 8% would change their wedding dress
- 5% would change the venue
- 6% would change hair/beauty on the day
- 7.5% would change their photographer
- 8% would change their honeymoon
5. Hotels Remain the Venue of Choice
It was no surprise to us that hotels remain a top choice for wedding venues, particularly for couples planning larger celebrations where on-site accommodation makes everything easier. Our survey reveals that 52% of you are choosing hotels and 20% country houses.
Booking is early: 42% of you begin venue searches within two months of engagement with bookings 6–12 months out (40%), 12–18 months out (33%), and more than 18 months (27%) ahead of the day.
Our One Fab Day Readers
Here are some more results from the survey. Thank you all so much for taking part. It was so lovely to have your feedback and to hear how you are using and enjoying the site:
- About you: Most of you enjoy a joint income between €40k–€100k, and over a quarter of you (27%) have joint incomes above €120k, with 7% above €160k. 70% of you are homeowners, with the remaining 30% of you renting or saving for a first home. 63% of you have children, with 82% of you saying this is the first wedding for both partners.
- Your venue/ceremony planning: Booking is early: 42% of you begin venue searches within two months of engagement; bookings typically occur 6–12 months out (40%), 12–18 months (33%), and more than 18 months (27%) ahead of the day. 48% of you are already familiar with your chosen venue before booking and 47% plan to hold the ceremony at their wedding venue.
- The capital is top of the wedding locations: Dublin (23%) is the top wedding spot, followed by Cork (10%), Kerry (7%), and Kilkenny (6%)—with a broad spread across other counties.
- How you are funding your wedding: 55% of you are relying on personal savings; 33% are using a mix of savings, loans, and family contributions; loans alone (9%) and family alone (4%) are less common. 48% of you have set an initial wedding budget of €20k or less.
- Where you get ideas: 33% used One Fab Day to find suppliers (especially venues and photographers) with 27% using other platforms including Instagram (51%); , Facebook, and TikTok; and AI usage remains niche—83% of you don’t use AI at all, with 38% of users who do using it only for ideas.
One Fab Day is the number one wedding website in Ireland, providing couples with 1000s of articles, 100s of Real Weddings, no matter what your question or dilemma, we have the answer.
We also have a network of the very best wedding vendors in Ireland so look no further than our Vendor Directory and Recommended Vendors on each article. All the hard work vetting and verifying is done for you – these are the guys you need to book (tell them we sent you!).
