One in four couples who are newly wed, or soon to be married, is taking marriage preparation courses, a survey has found.

The survey by Marriage Central, an agency under the National Family Council, was conducted this year with 1,000 respondents.

Ms Anita Fam, chairman of Marriage Central's advisory board, said the results were encouraging.

She said: "Too often, couples are overwhelmed by personal work schedules and wedding preparations, and as such, feel that they have no time to attend such programmes."

The findings reflect what organisations that conduct marriage preparation courses have observed themselves in recent years - that more couples are signing up for their courses.

Touch Family Services said that in the past five years, it has seen an annual increase of 15 per cent in the number of participating couples.

The centre conducts about 20 workshops a year, attended by 160 couples in total.

Fei Yue Community Services' marriage preparation course was attended by 60 couples last year, up from 40 in 2005.

Courses provided by Touch and Fei Yue are secular in nature.

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