Friday Wedding Thoughts?

blondeintgeragrl

Anyone have any opinions? Reason I ask is one of the places I looked at already every Sat in May & June 2011 is gone and a second reason is it may help us avoid higher minimums at other places. If anyone has had one, how was the turnout? I personally would have no problem attending a Friday wedding, any reason to duck out a few hours early on a Friday

tidetravel

Be prepared to have a smaller wedding. Fridays work best if you are only inviting close friends/family and have guests that are within an hour's drive. Fridays are inconvienent for your guests. Anyone that is coming from out of town will have to take off at least one day of work, perhaps 2. Anyone in town will either have to miss a whole or half day of work, or rush to get to the wedding. Friday weddings also = more traffic to deal with and a more rushed schedule in general. IF you do a Friday wedding, ceremony should start no earlier than 7 pm. You will have to serve a full meal (as opposed to heavy apps), as most of your guests will not have had time to eat (coming home from work, shower, change, rush off to wedding). Consider Sunday afternoon as another alternative to save money.

blondeintgeragrl

Our wedding is pretty small 75 , and all but about 5 people are within an hour (and they would most likely come for more days to visit rest of family in Md). Good point about the traffic. I am definitely doing a full dinner regardless of what day it is.

nazacewed

I'm having a Thursday wedding, and I am pretty sure most people will make it with enough advance notice.  But that's just the type of people I know, they wouldn't mind taking a few days off.... and of course the family will be there no matter what, so I don't think it'll be a problem.

dnajmi

I am having a Friday wedding and everything has worked out so far.  We mailed STD's about 7 months prior to the date to give everyone enough time to take the day off or a half day or whatever.You will also have a lot more choices when it comes to DJ's, Videographer's, Photographers, etc.  We only really did a Friday wedding because a friend of ours got married on a Friday and it seemed like everything worked out so nicely.  We also saved about $1500 on the reception room.

smange10.10

I think Friday weddings are great.  However, like PPs said, please be mindful of the start times and traffic the day of.  My parents were invited to a Friday evening wedding in Annapolis (they live in Columbia) and it started at 5pm.   It was in October, so there was no beach traffic, but Friday rush hour traffic in that area, isn't great.  They both had to leave work early and sit in the car in order to get there on time.  I would definitely suggest starting around 7 (if at all possible).

MereFM99

We're having a Friday wedding mainly b/c we wanted an evening wedding and our church doesn't do evening (or even late afternoon) ceremonies on Saturday. We've gotten really great deals on just about everything and are able to have a much "swankier" reception than we would've been able to have on a Saturday. We're expecting about 70 guests. I personally don't regret the decision at all!

JVeaux

I think friday evening weddings are great, I almost had one myself but then someone booked our day we picked out and a Sat. opened up another week.  You'll be fine since most of your guests are local. Traffic would be my biggest concern, but you'll be giving them plenty of notice to plan ahead. Plus, some of the guests will be thankful of the fact that the wedding doesn't consume their entire weekend!!

sarah&johnny

I just had a Friday wedding (August 7). I gave people plenty of notice with invites (and some email/phone calling). STDs were not in my budget but if they are in yours I would do them. I wouldn't say my wedding turned out small (we had 130 of 190 show up) and I had family fly in from all over the country (my fam is spread out in about 14 states) and with the notice they were able to come. I saved a bunch of money with my vendors by doing a Friday night because they don't ususally have business on that day so they tend to work with you so they can book a gig!

Soon2bmrsh10

We are having a Friday evening wedding.  We are only inviting close friends and family, but we figured that anyone who planned on attending our wedding would be there regardless of what day and time our wedding was.It is generally cheaper at some places as well if you have your wedding on a Friday.

FieryIrishAngel

Despite what PPs have said, I had a Friday evening wedding (on Halloween, no less, with a ceremony beginning at 6pm) and there were very few people who couldn't make it.  Those who couldn't were friends or family with young kids who would be doing the trick-or-treating Halloween thing, which had more to do with the holiday than to do with the day of the week.  I did luck out in that the vast majority of our guests were local, so drive time was less of a factor.A friend got married on a Tuesday and her husband's entire family was an 8 hour drive away.  They all took the time off of work and made the trip despite the fact that it was maybe a bit more inconvenient for them.  Yes, you have to be prepared to have some people who can't make it, but really, it's not nearly the huge hurdle that some may make it out to be.Also: I did send Save the Dates to allow for plenty of forewarning in case my guests needed to plan to leave work a bit early or arrange childcare.  I wouldn't have done them otherwise, but in this case, they made sense.  I think STDs are superfluous in most wedding situations, but if it's an "off" day or a holiday, they're almost imperative.

ajerome21

I like Friday weddings. They can be a pain sometimes, however, you realize it is not about you it's about the bride and groom.  We are actually having a Friday wedding.  The Saturday I wanted was already taken so we settled for Friday.  I am glad we did because we have saved a lot of money!!! People are always going to have an opinion and say something about the decision you make.  Just remember it is your wedding and anyone who really wants to be there will.... no matter what day it is on!!!