Suffolk's busiest month is October, and it is 3.12 times January
Suffolk recorded 1,039 marriages in October 2022. September was second at 997, then July at 909, June at 889 and August at 838. The lowest month was January with 333. Divide October by January and you get 3.12, a wider seasonal swing than Nassau's.
The state counts by month of ceremony and by county of occurrence, so this is when couples actually stood up and said it in Suffolk in 2022. It is the most recent year for which the Department of Health has published a monthly county table.
Two things stand out. The autumn peak is real and it is late: October beat every summer month. And the drop after Halloween is steep. November fell to 631, and December to 521, against October's 1,039.
Nassau's curve is flatter, and September wins by one marriage
Nassau's peak is September, with 707 marriages in 2022. October had 704. July had 693, May and June tied at 680, and August had 676. The gap between the first place month and the sixth is small.
January was the trough at 392. September to January comes out at 1.80 to one, a much gentler swing than Suffolk's 3.12.
Why flatter? The data does not say. The Department of Health does not publish where the ceremony took place, so the tables cannot tell you if Nassau's indoor venues carry more winter dates. We can only report the counts.
June is fourth in Suffolk and tied for fourth in Nassau
The June wedding is a phrase, and a habit, but in 2022 it was not the busiest month in either county. Suffolk's June count of 889 ranked fourth for the year. October, September and July were all higher. Nassau's June count of 680 tied with May, and three months came in higher there too.
Statewide the pattern holds. New York State as a whole peaked in October at 13,851, with August close at 13,748 and September at 13,617. New York City alone peaked in August at 7,032. June's statewide 11,245 was well below all three.
The marketplaces are half right. The Knot's Long Island venues FAQ names June, August, September and October as the best months, and its venue cost article, updated 6 May 2026, calls May to October peak season. Both are marketplace sourced. Neither cites the state table. The state table says October and September, then July, and June only after that.
June through October carries 59.8 percent of Nassau's year and 56.2 percent of Suffolk's
Add the five months from June to October and you get 4,125 of Nassau's 6,900 marriages in 2022, or 59.8 percent. Suffolk's five months total 4,672 of 8,314, or 56.2 percent. The other seven months share what is left.
For a venue that means the calendar is crowded from Memorial Day through Halloween and thin from Thanksgiving to April. For a couple it means the Saturdays you probably want are the Saturdays everyone wants.
What the timing means for booking a venue and negotiating a rate
Zola's First Look 2026 survey of more than 11,500 couples marrying in 2026 puts the average engagement at 18 months. Nineteen percent said they started planning before the proposal. Ten percent had toured venues before it, and 7 percent had already booked one. Those are marketplace figures from Zola, and they describe couples across the country rather than Long Island specifically.
Vendor specific booking lead times are not published by any source we read. Nobody prints how far ahead an October Saturday in Suffolk sells out. The venue knows, though. Ask the event manager how many Saturdays in September and October of your year are already gone, and get the answer in writing.
On price, the same silence. No venue in our research publishes a peak versus off peak rate sheet, and neither The Knot nor Zola breaks Long Island out by month. What the state table gives you is leverage. A January or February date in Suffolk competes with 333 or 428 other weddings that month; an October date competes with 1,039. Ask the venue to quote the same package for an October Saturday and a March Saturday, side by side, and ask what the difference buys.
The 2022 table is the latest, and Nassau's 2023 total is provisional
The monthly county table exists for 2022 only. The Department of Health publishes annual county totals in Table 47a, and the 2023 edition, revised in January 2026 and flagged provisional, shows Nassau at 5,748 and Suffolk at 8,008, for 13,756 together. Nassau's 2023 count is 1,152 below its 2022 count of 6,900. We do not know why, and the state does not say.
For scale, Nassau had 5,969 marriages in 2019 and Suffolk 7,656. New York State outside the city had 55,188 that year. It had 58,778 in 2022 and 54,057 in 2023. Tables for 2024 and 2025 are not published yet. If you want to check the source yourself, the links are at the bottom of this page, and the Department of Health's vital statistics unit is the office to write to if a figure looks wrong.
Sources: NYS Department of Health, Table 47, marriages by month of ceremony, 2022 · NYS Department of Health, Table 47a, marriages by county, 2023 (provisional) · NYS Department of Health, Table 47a, marriages by county, 2022 · The Knot, average cost of a reception venue (updated 6 May 2026) · Zola, average cost of a wedding (includes First Look 2026 survey figures)
Rules read on 3 September 2026. Codes change; confirm with the issuing office before you sign anything.
