Friday Wedding?

Pammie1983

Has anyone ever been to a Friday night wedding, or even better, planning or planned a friday night wedding?
We are thinking of a Friday night (6-12) at Bedford Village Inn this upcoming December.  I think it sounds like it could be a big, fun party, but I was hoping to see if any of my fellow knotties have delved into this before.

TIA!!
Pam

AppleJam+PB

I had a Friday wedding last June  It was a lot of fun, and the day of the week certainly didn't stop the party.  My mother was convinced that it would mean a lot of relatives wouldn't be able to attend, but the only people who declined were those we pretty much knew wouldn't make it, and it had nothing to do with a Friday!

We actually had some relatives come and thank us because it meant they still had their whole weekends free to do other things!

That said, there were still a few pitfalls.  Some people were really confused when we told them the date, and thought that we had gotten it wrong (or chosen poorly!).  We also did a very poor job of taking rush hour into account, which actually delayed our wedding because we were waiting for my grandfather.  Finally, we also had a bit of a scare when one of our bridesmaids was almost contractually obligated to choose her job over our wedding (we would have understood, of course; luckily, things worked out in everyone's favor in the end).

My biggest recommendation if you're planning a Friday wedding is to know your guest list.  Both my husband and I have very large but close families, and we knew that taking extra time off to travel to our wedding would not be a problem for them.  If we knew it would cause particular issue or strain for some of our family, we absolutely would not have done it - if you don't feel that you can choose the date or day of week confidently, I highly recommend you reevaluate your decision to pick something that you are more comfortable with.

bluealaska7

I was in a Friday wedding last September in Portmouth that started at 6pm and it was absolutely wonderful! I liked it so much that I am planning my own Friday morning brunch wedding in Meredith, NH this coming September.  Planning a wedding on a week day definitely saves money on the venue (It knocked off $1,000 for us!) and guest can just make a long weekend out of it!  Most of my family and friends are local so they can drop the kids off at school, attend the wedding and then be back home in time to pick the kids up.  I would definitely think about the time of day you're planning on having your wedding and take traffic and commute time into consideration.  If your wedding isn't starting until six, guests may not even have to ask off of work, just skip out an hour or two early.  Plus, they'll have all day Saturday to recover from the party.  Over all, I highly suggest a wedding on a Friday!

Pammie1983

Thank you very, very much for responding!  I am super excited about it too, and it will be considerably cheaper to do it on a Friday as opposed to a sat or sunday.  :)  Sorry it took me a while to respond, and thank you again!!!
~Pam

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-hampshire_friday-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:101Discussion:02db07d8-a6f7-4e55-9e9e-bf3888224719Post:fe421abb-1e82-4e52-8df1-6b9f7e9a56bd">Friday Wedding?</a>:
[QUOTE]Has anyone ever been to a Friday night wedding, or even better, planning or planned a friday night wedding? :) We are thinking of a Friday night (6-12) at Bedford Village Inn this upcoming December.  I think it sounds like it could be a big, fun party, but I was hoping to see if any of my fellow knotties have delved into this before. TIA!! Pam
Posted by Pammie1983[/QUOTE]

MuppetOverlord

I've been to a few Friday night weddings. They were fun. The last one I went to, the couple thought that some people might not come because they were doing it on a weekday but people (including myself) were happy to take some time off for an event. I'd do it for a concert, I'll do it for a wedding!

It kind of makes it feel like the weekend was longer too since you did something special on a Friday night.

Love the idea of it going to midnight too!