South Africans aren’t getting married as often as they used to. More than 106,500 civil marriages were recorded in 2021 compared with just under 172,000 in 2009, that’s a drop of just over a third (38%). December is the most popular month for weddings, although the number of December weddings has also been decreasing since 2009. January, February and the winter months, June and July, are generally the least popular months for weddings. Covid-19 had a big effect on weddings: only 384 couples got married in April 2020, thanks to the hard lockdown that month, and just over 600 people tied the knot in May. In all, just over 89,000 civil marriages took place in 2020.