THE rate of Australian couples getting married suffered a historic fall last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Only 78,989 couples walked down the aisle or stood in a park with a civil celebrant in 2020, a fall of more than 30 per cent from 2019.

The decrease in marriages is the largest annual decrease in marriages ever reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) since the creation of the Commonwealth in 1901.

According to the ABS, 2020 also had the lowest number of marriage registrations reported since 1961.

Anthony Burke, National President of the Australian Federation of Civil Celebrants, said restrictions in place during the first year of the pandemic, including social distancing requirements, size limits on gatherings and travel restrictions had a direct impact on marriages in 2020.

“With travel and other restrictions, couples intending to marry either cancelled or deferred their wedding plans after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared,” Mr Burke said.

“The decline in marriage ceremonies was not unexpected.”

Mr Burke said it came as no surprise that the total number of marriages was 41.9 per cent down in Victoria in 2020.

“The largest decrease in wedding numbers in 2020 was in Victoria where additional restrictions were in place due to a second wave of COVID-19, but I expect even less weddings would have been registered in 2021,” said Mr Burke.

Mr Burke is confident couples who had deferred their wedding plans will “tie the knot” in 2022 as gathering and travel restrictions continue to be lifted.