Help choosing a day?

Angelamama

So we've finally found the venue of our dreams - but can't afford a Saturday evening reception there. Choosing to move the event to a Friday or Sunday evening will cut the cost down about $7,500. My thing is, I do have quite a bit OOT guests, and was going to help accomodate them in a hotel. For this reason, I'm leaning more towards Friday, so that they would have time to relax and make the trip home before Monday. FH on the other hand has a lot of good friends who he also works with, and wanted to make sure they could all be there - and theres no way they could all take off Friday to be at the wedding. I am Not* having a frat-party-get-wasted kind of wedding, but I am having a lot of friends around my age (20-24) and would like to kick back and drink, (open bar of course) but I feel this will not be the same if I do it on a Sunday.

So it's either Friday night where people would either have to request off work or leave early, or rush home to get ready and come out to my wedding, with a 6 pm ceremony and a 7-11 reception, or a Sunday night (not into the mid-day brunch/lunch thing) with 4 pm ceremony, 5-9 reception, and people will have to go right back to work the next day.

Which would you choose? why? would you hate attending someone's sunday evening wedding? Thanks for all input!

ggmae

Friday for sure. It's generally easier for most people to get out of work a few hours early on a Friday than to have to a) go to work feeling exhausted on a Monday or b) taking an entire day off. I'd enjoy myself better at a Friday night wedding - no stressing about the next day!

ETA - Also, if it were my good friend or a family member getting married on a Friday night, I'd take off the entire day if necessary.

laurenclaire1386

I'm much more in the mood to party on a Friday night than a Sunday night. Also, I look for any excuse I can to take off entirely or early on Fridays.

lauralaur

While it is a pain, if people know far enough in advance, they should/may be able to take the time off. I'm not a fan of a Sunday wedding because I tend to spend the time thinking about how late it's getting and how I have to go to work the next day. I personally would rather take Friday off and then relax for the rest of the weekend, but vacation time is not too much of an issue for me (unless I've blown it all already).

nda_roxybabe

Friday hands down

Amaryllis619

If there's absolutely no way you can swing a Saturday night wedding. then Friday would be my next choice.  I agree with pp saying that Sunday I'd be more preoccupied about leaving to get home than enjoying my time.  Friday is a pain to get off work, and i'd likely not make it on time, but once i got there i'd be worry free and able to focus on your wedding.  GL!

tidetravel

I think a relaxed, kick back and drink style reception can happen on Sunday too.  In theory, people would take off Friday for a Saturday wedding.  In your case, if you did it on Sunday, they would just take off Monday instead.  Depending on where your friends work, it may be easier to take off on Monday, because it's not as busy a day (at least for restaurant/retail workers)

If it's important to your FI that his friends be there, I think it's something that you should consider. 

Angelamama

Thank you all for your votes and help!

sunshine_day_dreams

Are you absolutely set on 09/25?  I ask because that was originally our date for this year, and we chose to move it up to Labor Day weekend.  That way we still get the budget benefits of a Sunday wedding, but most people don't have to work on Monday, and it's an extra long weekend for our family who are traveling.  However, with that comes that not everyone will want to travel over their holiday to your wedding.  There are pros and cons, obviously, but it worked out really well for us.

noodle_oo

Wow, I'm surprised!  I guess I'm in the minority.  I hate having to take the time off work to go to a Friday wedding.  It is not worth taking the whole day off and so the day just becomes really stressful.  You have to leave work, run home, get ready fast, deal wtih traffic to get some place at 6 PM.  I'd MUCH rather have the whole day Sunday, sleep in, take my time getting raedy and enjoy the evening.  I also tend to be EXHAUSTED on Fridays, which means I will fall asleep by 9 PM.  If your guests are OOT, they will have to take a day off anyway, so Friday or Monday doesn't really matter.  As a guest, I'm much more likely to come to a Sunday wedding than a Friday wedding.

MyNameIsNot

Honestly, I would try to look for a venue where I could afford Saturday night.  Coming from someone with a lot of OOT guests, it was hard enough for them to make it on a Saturday.  I'd feel really bad about Friday or Sunday.  

If that isn't an option, I'd do Friday and make it as late as possible, like 7 for the ceremony.  

JessAndTrav

Friday, but it'd be later in the evening, probably starting around 7ish.

tenofcups4me

Sunday. I don't want to do anything Friday night -- I'm tired, the week's over, the last thing I want to do is get dressed up and go out. And I really don't want to have to take off work to do it.

I've attended a few Sunday night weddings that go late into the night and don't feel any different from a Saturday. If I had to, I'd rather go into work a couple hours later on Monday than take off Friday.

tracy_k

I see you're in Baltimore... have you looked at Overhills Mansion in Catonsville? My wedding was there in February, it's gorgeous and very reasonably priced. They let you bring in your own liquor, so it saves you a LOT of money.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

If I leave work early, I need to use Paid Time Off. I'd rather be tired on Monday than have to use my vacation time if the wedding is local. Plus, OOT guests will have to take either Friday or Monday off, anyway. The last OOT wedding I went to was a Friday night. I took a red eye on Thursday so I'd only need to take 1 day off from work. I had a headache and was ready for bed by 10pm. A Sunday reception from 5-9 is not much different than going out to dinner on a Sunday, which I do often.