In 2016 there were 242,774 marriages of opposite sex couples (92.7 percent of all marriages) in England and Wales, a rise of 1.7 percent compared to 2015, recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed.

However, this was 5.3 percent lower than the 264,000 marriages in 2012 (the highest figure for the past 10 years and so marriage rates remain at historical lows despite a small increase in the number of people who got married in 2016.

In addition there were 7,019 marriages of same sex couples, an increase of 8.1 percent year on year (and 2.8 percent of all marriages).

Jo Edwards, head of ...