Poll - Easter Wedding

cmustari

My fiance and I recently moved our date from October to April 7th, 2012. This is the Saturday right before Easter.

We checked with our wedding party and both my family and his and they have no problems with it. We aren't planning on being married in a church, so there's no dilema there. Most of our guests are within an hours drive of the venue, with a few exceptions.

How do you feel about a wedding the day before Easter? Most people we have talked to have said that they don't mind it at all and some close friends have said they like the idea because they have Friday off, so our families could start the party early. I'm just looking for more opinions... 

therickson

My family is local so as long as the wedding is local I would attend. If the wedding were OOT it would be a more case by case basis. This is coming from one who takes easter as more of a family holiday as opposed to a religious one...

mica178

Easter is about family for me.  So if you're family. great.  If not, I might skip your day-before-Easter wedding as that's the day to prepare all the food and go to church.

brilibby4

Holiday weekends are usually really busy for my family so unless you were someone very important to me I would not go.

stillundecided4

Like pp said. If you're family, I would attend. But if you're just a friend, probably not unless we were very close. I don't see my family often so holidays are the one time we all get together.

kaederose

If I were local, and didn't have familial obligations, I would go.  I would like to go matter what, assuming that we're close enough I warranted an invitation, but there can be family...time hijacking? around the holidays so if it presented a real problem in that area, I'd have to decline.

[Deleted User]

I would only be there if it were a close friend or family member. I don't think most of our family would choose to get married on a Saturday before Easter as we usually attend church that night. Holidays are really important in our family and we would already have stuffed planned.

I would work it in, but wouldn't be happy about it since there are so many dates to choose from. Besides, I know the Catholic church wouldn't marry you during that time any way bc it is Holy Week. I am not sure about other denominations.

Galaxy8227

If it was local to me, I would go since we don't do much the day before Easter (our whole family goes to a restaurant every year) so we wouldn't be missing any family festivities yet.  If we had to travel there, I might skip it. 

nhelene

I'd go as long as it was convenient.  I don't really do much for Easter.

PharmacyBride

The people who host Easter may have to decline an invite to prepare everything for the next day.  Also, people you may have thought would drink and dance the night away -may leave early- so they are not tired/hungover for church.

It depends on your circle.  If your particular group of friends and family are fine with it- then go ahead.. you may find some good vendor deals.

Easter is the most important holiday in my religion (yes, before Christmas), so I would probably come and leave early if I was a guest.

Just give a good hard look at who you are inviting- if they are fine with it- I see no problems!

quotequeen

I don't usually do anything for easter, so it wouldn't affect my decision one way or the other.

KentuckyKate

I had a friend get married April 3 of this year, which was the day before Easter.  H was a GM and it was out of town, so we had to go and miss Easter Sunday.  I have to say, I hated the date they chose.  I have elderly relatives with touch-and-go health, so I don't like missing holidays with my family.  Even the local friends we had in that city had to deal with waking up early the next morning to get to church with their families after a late night.  LSS, we all complained about it behind their backs.

golden1215

I would probably go if I was local but not really drink too much- so perhaps not have as much fun/dancing as I normally would?- because I would know I have to get up for church the next day.

LDYGTR13

Unless I was a BM or an extremely close friend or my whole family was going to be there I would only go if it was local (and by local I mean under an hour drive). Easter isn't a religious thing for us, but it IS a day when we all get together.

loop0406

I couldn't view a poll if there was one posted.

How do you feel about a wedding the day before Easter?
I think it's fine, I would attend

mgietler76

Have you considered what type of food you will be serving yet? In my circle of friends and family we don't eat meat during Lent, have you booked this date yet and confirmed with the church? I'm assuming Catholic so I could be wrong here, but as far as Catholic churches go they will not marry you during Lent. Personally I would have issues with attending if you weren't serving some sort of fish., but if it was local, you served fish and I wouldn't miss Easter Sunday I would attend.

Sloane99

This would be NBD to me, we don't generally do much for Easter as a family, but we do try and go away for long weekends sometimes so the fact that it's on a long weekend may impact my decision more. Although if it was a nice location we may make a trip out of that.

You know your guest list better than we do, and they may be like me. But If you have lots of guests with potential religious and/or family obligations you may want to consider a better time. Even if they attend, it may just be a cameo appearance.

SaraAndrew2010

I would not attend.  Easter is the most important holiday of the Christian calendar.  Good Friday and Holy Saturday are supposed to be a time of solemnity and reflection, not partying.   I feel that having/attending a wedding the Saturday before Easter takes away from the true meaning of Easter. 

I'd understand if someone wasn't religious and planned their wedding for Easter weekend, but I personally would not feel comfortable attending.

ehathewa

If the wedding is in the same area as my family's Easter celebration I would definitely go.  It sounds like most of your guests are within an hours drive, that seems reasonable to me. 

However... I usually am not the one cooking and preparing for Easter.  It may be harder on people hosting the Easter celebration since they wouldn't have as much prep-time the day before. 

ThePinkSuperhero

You're planning something almost two years away for the day before Easter?  Why?  Why not just pick another day?  I think the day before Easter is a mistake, it's going to be a PITA for people.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

I wish *I* had Good Friday off.

Easter has become much less significant for me in the past 5-10 years because I *don't* get any vacation (didn't in college either - but had 2 weeks in high school) and I live 3,000 miles away from family. I haven't spent Easter with my parents since I was about 20 years old. Oh, and I stopped going to church about 6 years ago. Usually FI and I just go out to brunch on Easter.

Whereas Christmas is still a family holiday to me. But this really depends on your crowd.

mysticl

FYI: to those saying that a church probably won't marry her that day, she clearly stated she is not planning a church wedding. 

I wouldn't have a problem attending but would need more notice of your wedding than most so I didn't make other plans, like visiting my parents or FI family.  It really depends on your crowd and you know them best.  Maybe get a list of church services in the area so if anyone from out of town would like to attend services on Sunday they have the info. 

mgietler76

mystic - oops I mis-read and thought she said she WAS getting married in a church.

Calypso1977

i'm catholic, so Easter is the most important religious holiday of the entire year.  i would be attending the vigil Mass that evening. 

if you had a daytime wedding, i'd go, but evening, i'd have to pass as Mass on that particularly day is extremely important to me.

cbvcru67

Personally, I would be annoyed.  At our age, and living hours away from my family, I really don't celebrate Easter, per se, but we will usually have brunch with his parents.  So, no, the holiday isn't a big "to-to" but it still involves waking up decently early for 95% of the people that DO celebrate, even kid-less, slightly older people like my boyfriend and I.  So yes, I feel like it's somewhat inconsiderate to host an evening event knowing that for a significan amount of people there will be a morning conflict. 

On a related note,  a friend of mine was married the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  They picked the date because they figured it would be easier for people to travel with a holiday weekend.  Uh, really?  Because plane tickets are cheaper around holidays?  And the roads are less clogged with people trying to see their famalies?  Yes, the holiday weekend gave people maybe an extra day or two to travel, but left a lot of her relatives wondering what to do for Thanksgiving  (come early and neglect your own traditions? or throw together something small, drive on Friday exhausted and follow it up with a busy weekend?)

From a bride perspective, I understand why holiday weekends are so enticing to plan a wedding on, especially with good deals available.  However, as a person (one with very limited vacation time!) , I hate being invited to those types of events that "hog" a holiday I would rather spend on myself and will usually either decline or show up to support my friend and not enjoy it as much as a "normal" weekend. Maybe I'm selfish, but I dont think Im alone.

Calypso1977

cbv, you arent selfish.  i feel the same way.

as long as brides and grooms RESPECT that folks might decline, its fine to do weddings on holiday weekends.  i have a problem when people make you feel guilty for declining an invite.

ThePinkSuperhero

Oh, good point- if people are going to be flying, it'll be a more expensive weekend to fly.

notquiteblushing

No I probably wouldn't go unless you were a close family member and if you were I'd convince you to change the date.  Easter is a big weekend in my family so even if the wedding was "local" to me I would be out of town and unavailable and frankly a little offended.

Kristin789

This, exactly:

I would not attend.  Easter is the most important holiday of the Christian calendar.  Good Friday and Holy Saturday are supposed to be a time of solemnity and reflection, not partying.   I feel that having/attending a wedding the Saturday before Easter takes away from the true meaning of Easter. 

I'd understand if someone wasn't religious and planned their wedding for Easter weekend, but I personally would not feel comfortable attending.

jess9802

I'm not particularly religious, but to me Easter weekend is not a light, happy celebration. It doesn't seem right to hold a wedding during that time. Also, it is a weekend to spend with family. I would decline.

alehayes

My whole extended family gets together (like all the way to fourth cousins) on Easter, so it tends to be an extremely busy weekend for me.  If we were REALLY close, I'd do my best to be there, but it would be difficult. 

But I just think holiday weddings are a bad idea.  FI and I were originally going to get married Memorial Day Weekend next year (he proposed on Memorial Day) but then I realized that half my family spends that weekend at the track (that's Indiana for you), so that would be kind of dumb.  The weekend before is my 23rd birthday, and the weekend before THAT is Mother's Day weekend, so we finally settled on the first weekend in May.

No holidays, no plans, no problem.