Wedding planning lead time
How far in advance is a destination wedding planned? Katiblé data
Data as of October 23, 2026. Recalculated with every read.
The short answer
According to Katiblé data, half of couples start planning their wedding 12 months or more before the date (51.4%, N = 251, October 2026).
According to Katiblé data, 6 in 10 couples marry on a Saturday (58.2%, N = 251, October 2026).
How long before the wedding couples sign up
Days between the couple signing up on Katiblé and the wedding date they gave. In months: days divided by 30.44, rounded.
The median is 12 months between sign-up and the wedding (365 days; 95% CI of the median: 333 to 397 days; N = 251).
| Measure | Days | Months |
|---|---|---|
| 25th percentile | 200 | 7 |
| Median | 365 | 12 |
| 75th percentile | 459 | 15 |
95% CI of the median: 333 to 397 days
Couples by lead time
Each couple counts once. Percentages carry their 95% confidence interval (Wilson).
| Lead time | Couples | Share | 95% CI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 6 months (under 183 days) | 52 of 251 | 20.7% | 16.2% to 26.2% |
| 6 to 12 months (183 to 364 days) | 70 of 251 | 27.9% | 22.7% to 33.7% |
| 12 to 18 months (365 to 547 days) | 89 of 251 | 35.5% | 29.8% to 41.6% |
| Over 18 months (548 days or more) | 40 of 251 | 15.9% | 11.9% to 21.0% |
| 12 months or more (365 days or more) | 129 of 251 | 51.4% | 45.2% to 57.5% |
Which day of the week couples marry
Day of the week of the wedding date given.
| Day | Couples | Share | 95% CI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday | 146 of 251 | 58.2% | 52.0% to 64.1% |
| Friday | 31 of 251 | 12.4% | 8.8% to 17.0% |
| Sunday | 18 of 251 | 7.2% | 4.6% to 11.0% |
| Monday to Thursday | 56 of 251 | 22.3% | 17.6% to 27.9% |
How it is calculated
- Source: couple sign-ups on Katiblé, each linked to its account, with the wedding date the couple entered. One observation per couple.
- Universe: external couples. Internal, test and demo accounts are excluded, by their email address and by the origin of the sign-up.
- Filter: wedding date between the sign-up day and 1,460 days (4 years) later. Dates outside that window are discarded.
- Lead time: days between the sign-up date (UTC) and the wedding date. In months: days divided by 30.44, rounded to the nearest whole number.
- Measures: median and 25th and 75th percentiles (linear interpolation). The 95% confidence interval of the median uses order statistics, with no distributional assumption. Proportions carry a Wilson interval.
- Sufficiency: with fewer than 100 couples we publish no figure at all.
- Dates: the couples signed up between May 26, 2026 and October 23, 2026. Cut-off: October 23, 2026.
What this data does not say
- It is not a market sample: these are couples who signed up on Katiblé, weighted toward destination weddings.
- Signing up is not booking: the date is the one the couple gave, and it can change. The sign-up date stands in for the start of planning; a couple may have started earlier.
- The sign-up window is short (May 26, 2026 to October 23, 2026): it does not capture differences between seasons or years.
- It updates with every read: figures change when new couples sign up or someone corrects their date.
- We give no month, season, year, destination, guest count, budget or category: with this sample they would be biased or rest on too few observations.
How to cite
Katiblé, "How far in advance is a destination wedding planned? Katiblé data", data as of October 23, 2026. https://www.katible.com/en/datos/anticipacion-de-bodas