More and more couples tend to tie the knot on a weekday, so how about the tradition of getting wed on Saturdays?

The most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics – from 2008 – showed that 60% of couples in England and Wales marry on a Saturday.

Friday in second place accounted for almost a fifth of all weddings as couples sought to jump the queue for their desired venue. Sunday (5.5%) trailed in third. But since those statistics were compiled, there’s been a lift-off for the mid-week wedding.

It’s a definite trend, says Arabella Dupont, executive retail editor at Brides magazine. The main reason is cost, with mid-week events about a third cheaper. With figures published this month by Brides showing that couples spend an average of £24,669 on their wedding, it’s easy to see why people are looking for savings, Dupont argues.

There’s also the hook of better availability. Country House Weddings, a company operating four stately homes in Essex, Gloucestershire and Somerset, holds 250 weddings a year at each venue.

With only 52 weekends a year, and high demand, couples are opting for a formerly unfashionable Monday or Tuesday to ensure they get to marry in a historic house with large grounds, a spokeswoman says. It can also lead to savings of about 40% in high season.

Traditionalists might argue that the sense of occasion is lost on a Tuesday afternoon. But a wedding should be able to transcend which day of the week it’s on, but the financially-straitened times means that many people on average earnings are looking to make savings on weddings. “Weddings are so expensive nowadays that people are making cutbacks,” says a spokeswoman.