Friday night reception?

fchan1

Hi ladies! So I received my first proposal from a venue today and the price is totally right BUT including our wonderful state tax and service charges, it still ends up being a good amount per person, not including linen and chair upgrades. I'm thinking of moving the fun to a Friday evening to help fray costs as well. Has anyone considered or been to a Friday or Sunday wedding? If I couldn't do it on a Saturday night, I would probably do it on a Friday, but I know that people would then have to take a day or afternoon off work, etc...and then the wedding party and family would probably have to take two days off for the rehearsal and stuff too. So I would hate to inconvenience folks, but if it helps to cut costs... Oh - and this venue (none, actually) could give me an actual percentage of what I would be saving by having it on a Friday or Sunday but they all said it would be less. And unfortunately, I can't do a Sunday wedding on any of the three day weekends cuz Labor Day weekend falls during the end of Ramadan (several close friends and family are very religious) and Columbus Day weekend, we actually have TWO friends getting married 10/9 and 10/10. So even if we aren't invited to those weddings, we all have mutual friends who would probably be invited to either of those weddings who wouldn't be able to attend ours. Thoughts? Thanks!

tracy_k

Find a cheaper venue? It's your first proposal. My venue (Overhills Mansion, near Baltimore... great place and SUPER reasonable) charges anywhere from $150-250 less for Friday night vs. Saturday night, and the catering minimum is reduced by about $500... and it's even cheaper in the "off season," Jan - March.Can you have the wedding in one of those months?

heyxu

I'm having mine on a Sunday.  While I did pay less for the actual venue, I don't think it was really a factor for my other vendors.  I didn't ask for a Saturday quote from my caterer though, so it might be cheaper.If you chose Sunday, why would it have to be on a three day weekend?  I agree with pp, can you pick an off month?

Naybow

I had my wedding on a Friday (not in DC) and it worked out perfectly... nobody complained that it was a Friday. About half of our guests traveled to the wedding, so they had to take a day off anyway.... My theory is this, those that want to be with you on your day will be there regardless. You will have some surprises and disappointments when it comes to rsvps, that's a given, but I don't really think the day (Fri vs Sat or Sun) really comes into play much when people decide to come to a wedding. Just my opinion and experience though...

fchan1

We've actually been to a couple of venues and while I'm not married to this one (sorry for the pun), I really do like it because it fits into our personal style, theme, decor, etc. And it's honestly really not THAT bad in terms of cost, relatively speaking - I'm just thinking that if I really wanted to do everything there, but try to curb some of the costs, would it be a big inconvenience for guests to do it on a Friday or Sunday.This year will be our nine year anniversary of being together, so I know it sounds a little silly and superficial, but we're trying to be married before we hit the official ten year mark, which would be December 2010. There's a lot more back story to it, but that's one reason why we'd like to get married next fall instead of going into 2011.As far as the three day weekend goes, we're just again trying to consider our guests and stuff. Since most people are off on the Mondays of those three day weekends, we figured it wouldn't be so bad for them to be out partying late on Sunday. As far as conflicting with the other two weddings, the friends who would be "affected" by the triple booking would be more his friends than mine. He has a huuuuggee circle of friends so I know it's important to him to have certain people there who we know would probably be invited to the other two weddings too, including one of the couples getting married. Oh, and also we were told by a few of the venues that they actually offer additional discounts for holiday weekends - a little counter-intuitive for me, but one place did say that not only would the prices be lower for a Sunday night, but for Labor Day weekend, they would offer an additional percentage off as well. That weekend would have been perfect, if not for the religious holiday.Anyway, I'm sorry for being long-winded...just tryin to answer questions and sort things out in my mind "out-loud." Thanks for the thoughts!

2dBride

We're doing a Friday night reception.  (The wedding is actually mid-week and very small, but the reception back home will be on the Friday night.)  We did it late enough (8:00 PM) so that local people could just come after work.  However, we don't have a lot of OOT people coming, so I'm not sure how hard it would be for them.

sylveste

I have been to both. The Sunday is great because you get to travel sat and Mon. The Friday is harder in terms of work but both times I flew that morning and still only took off one day of work. I also got to fly home early and still have the Monday off. Can you do fourth of July or memorial day weekends? I moved my wedding up 6 months and it wasn't too bad!

salyse530

Ours is going to be on a Sunday, ceremony in late afternoon and reception going until 10 so t hat all the in town people can still get home and get some sleep before work on Monday. A friend had a Friday wedding in May and though we were happy to go, I had to take a half day off work which was really annoying. I was "in town" but it was still an 1 1/2 drive (at least). I liked the idea of the Sunday because then you have some time to relax over the weekend...

heyxu

Also consider that holiday airfare and hotel rates may be more expensive, so you save money but your guests may not.  Personally, I'd rather attend a Sunday wedding than Friday since I don't necessarily have to take off a day of work even if it was OOT.  However, that'd be different if it was a Sunday evening reception.  Ours is a lunch reception.

alexandrianewell

Something else to think of if you are looking at the Sunday of a holiday weekend, most venues will charge you the Saturday price for that.  Most of the ones I looked at had a note that if it was a Sunday of a Monday holiday, it would be considered the Saturday price. 

PharmJen

Our wedding is on a Friday in May in Philly (where we are from) - we went with a Friday since they didn't have any Saturdays available until July (too hot for me!).  It's really not saving us much money and I'm sure it's inconveniencing people but I've been to enough weddings to realize that no one ever cared about inconveniencing me as a guest!  I've been to weddings from Thursdays to Sundays, from NY to VA, Mexico to Panama - and I've done it out of my love for my friends and family.  Those who you want to be there the most will be there no matter what.You'll never make EVERYONE happy - focus on what makes you and your FI happy.  If you love the venue, have it on a Friday.  Friday and Sunday weddings are fairly common these days so I wouldn't sweat it.GL! 

KatieintheCity

I'm having a Friday night wedding! Our ceremony is at 4:00 p.m. The day of the week hasn't been much of a deterrent from what we can tell. If there's anyone who isn't coming because it's a Friday, they didn't tell us. Most declines are either due to finances (can't afford the trip) or other obligations. I really like that we have the rest of the weekend then to recover before jetting off on the honeymoon. I've been to several Sunday afternoon weddings. It's very common among Jewish couples (they can't have a wedding on the Sabbath, so sundown Friday to sundown Saturday). Lots of non-Jewish couples are getting in on the Sunday fun, though, now too.