Third of all couples 'don’t have sex on their wedding night', poll reveals

YouGov survey finds wedding night sex is waning

One in three newly-weds wait until after the big day to consummate their marriage (Getty)

Wedding night sex is on the decline, with a third of all under-40s saying they didn’t consummate their marriage until after the big day.

The main reason, according to a new poll, is fatigue, with nearly half of those surveyed saying that they were simply “too tired”.

One in five under-40s cited drunkenness as the reason for not making love on the big night.

Although more than three-quarters of over 60s did have sex on their wedding night, the reasons for those who didn’t remain the same, with exhaustion topping the list of reasons at 37 per cent, followed by drinking too much at 23 per cent.

Worryingly, eight per cent of 18-to-39-year-olds didn’t actually remember whether they had sex or not, although whether this is down to tiredness, alcoholism or both is unknown.

Despite changing attitudes, the number of people who had sex with their marital partner prior to the big day has stayed consistent at a little under half.

However, the number of those having premarital sex with different partners has steadily increased, with 64 per cent of 18-39-year-olds stating that they had, compared to 44 per cent of the over 60s.

Interestingly, of the 711 married UK adults participating in the YouGov poll, 60 per cent of men claimed to have slept with other partners before they married, while only 46 per cent of women said they had done the same.