my fiance' and I set the wedding date for July 4, 2015

Kerri Thogerson2011

Well my fiance' and I set our wedding date for July 4, 2015 and I was wondering do any brides out there have any cool but affordable ideas for our wedding ceremony and reception? Please let me know

Thank you

Kerri

ReneeMichelleBrown11

My fiance and I are considering this weekend as well. Something I noticed is that the Friday night is cheaper and people will have that Friday off in observance of the 4th. (It is technically the Saturday of that weekend.) Another possible option is that Thursday night, which is technically the Friday of that week. Some places are $20 cheaper per person.

Best of luck and have fun!

manateehugger

Ditto what Scribe95 said. Since the 4th is on a Friday next year, I'll be taking the long weekend to go visit family. 

You would have to be either family or my bestest friend ever for me to actually attend your wedding. You also have to consider that airfare and accommodation rates will be high for the holiday weekend, so your guests will have to pay more than usual to attend. 

zitiqueen

Kerri Thogerson2011 said:

Well my fiance' and I set our wedding date for July 4, 2015 and I was wondering do any brides out there have any cool but affordable ideas for our wedding ceremony and reception? Please let me know

Thank you

Kerri

In addition to people declining to come because it's a big holiday weekend, be prepared to find out many vendors won't be willing to work on that weekend.

QueerFemme

Your guests will likely have to pay a higher rate for hotels and any other travel expenses, and your vendors may charge a premium for working on the holiday. I would seriously rethink this plan if you are trying to stay on a budget.

cma212

Generally speaking Friday weddings are usually cheaper, however, holiday weddings are not. I've been to many venues that exclude discounts on holidays. It will be hard for you to find any savings when using that day.

TheBaysideBride

Haha i love that you chose "Independence Day" to get hitched. Very cute.

Just be prepared for everything to be more expensive, including guests' plane tickets. Before you lock in the date, I would make sure hotels don't have 3 night minimums, etc.

If you're getting married in 2015, you have PLENTY of time to do research before you tell anyone that date is set.

pesematology

If you're already engaged more than a year in advance, I recommend taking it as an opportunity to be flexible with your venue. Planning way ahead and having some flexibility gives you some chance for bargaining and finding better rates. My partner and I "set a date" for sometime in the fall of 2014, and we'll set the actual month and day after we've booked a venue.

Tomandlesley

A friend of mine got married on July 4th two years ago it was the funniest wedding and the ended in fireworks. If you want to do it go for it

ashleyep

StageManager14 said:

ReneeMichelleBrown11 said:

My fiance and I are considering this weekend as well. Something I noticed is that the Friday night is cheaper and people will have that Friday off in observance of the 4th. (It is technically the Saturday of that weekend.) Another possible option is that Thursday night, which is technically the Friday of that week. Some places are $20 cheaper per person.

Best of luck and have fun!

I have never in my life had a job where I got the day before July 4th off.  Hell, I'm only just now working a job where I get the 4th itself off (only when it falls on a workday).  And that's because I am at a school.  I would not assume that most people will have Friday July 3rd off.  Nor would I assume that a wedding on Friday or Sunday will be cheaper, since most venues charge full rates, if not inflated rates, for holiday weekends for exactly that reason.

If you have a normal 9-5 type job with a set number of holidays a year, then yes, if the holiday falls on a weekend, it's very common to get either the Friday before or Monday off in observance (Christmas/New Years/4th are the only ones I can think of).

However, I agree with you to make the same assumptions for the 3rd as you would make on any other Friday with the understanding that a few more people, but probably not most guests, would have it off than normal. And DEFINITELY don't assume that the 2nd will be everyone's Fridays.

Because it's not a typical 3-day weekend Monday-off type of holiday, she might get better rates, but I wouldn't make that assumption either.

Anyway, I would mind if I didn't have to travel. My cousin got married on the Friday of Labor Day weekend a few years ago and it was fine because I still had the whole weekend - though I did have to take half a day from work. But I wouldn't give up my holiday weekend unless you were a very close friend or family member.

tenanye0

My fiancé and I are planning July 4, 2015 as well. We have actually found so far that most venues have actually offered us a better deal because they have no weddings booked on that date. Vendors that I have been meeting with have been more than happy to work with us on that date BECAUSE they don't usually have weddings booked on that date. We have been getting great deals: such as DJ and Photographer husband-wife team are offering a $100 discount for using them both on that date, in addition to the discounts they have already offered. AND they are doing this in a very non pushy way so my experiences with this date and vendors have been absolutely wonderful thus far!

tenanye0

On another note:

In regards to our friends and family, they are all very happy to be there on that date as we were also able to secure hotel suite discount rates under $100 with free shuttles for sightseeing while they are here. That is an added bonus because it's 4th of July weekend! As far as people FEELING inconvenienced, you should only want people who will lovingly support you on your big day to be present anyway. It's you and you fiancé's day!