Anyone else getting married on August 21, 2017 during the solar eclipse? My fiancee and I bonded over the Pluto mission when we were falling for each other and we are both space/science nerds and. So, we decided to plan our wedding around the eclipse. It was particularly handy since my home town is in the path of totality.
Even though we started researching almost a year in advance, we missed out on booking rooms in the motels in my small home town. I had to frantically cobble together 8 hotel rooms in two different cities, both an hour from the wedding location.
Luckily, we took care of that before eclipse mania kicked in and hotels started charging 5-6 times the regular rate, if any rooms are even available.
My next worry is the traffic on the wedding day. Because we are shuttling guests from two towns on highways that are expected to be jammed (the state patrol finally decided to start having logistics discussions with all of the municipalities to come up with a plan.) We are putting on a pancake breakfast at the location to get everyone there early and make sure people are fed and happy.
We are so very excited to have our closest friends and family join us on my family's 120 year old farm property (no longer a farm, the 5 acres that are left consist of my brother's house and the family reunion camp site). Logistics could be tricky. Weather SHOULD be good, which is why Idaho is getting so many visitors.
Tell me your Great American Eclipse wedding plans!!
Re: Great American Eclipse Weddings?
Honestly, this all sounds a little problematic. Your guests have to drive an hour to your wedding? And possibly longer depending on traffic? After they've already traveled to attend?
I would caution you not to pin all of your plans on the eclipse event. It could rain.
I wish you and your guests tons of luck with your plan. Re: the bolded, how early will guests be arriving before the ceremony? What does the timeline for the day look like: ceremony, reception, etc.? I totally get wanting to avoid traffic, I'm just wondering with traffic, pancake breakfast, ceremony, reception, whatever else, how long of a day this is going to be for everyone.
Can you skip the breakfast? I would not be happy at being up at 6:30 on a Saturday to get ready for a wedding, drive for an hour and then have to sit around for 2 hours for the ceremony to start. You are asking a lot from your guests. There are not enough pancakes in the world to make up for an 8 am Saturday pick up.
If it's an eclipse, it's going to be 'viewable' throughout your region. Why can you not have the ceremony/wedding at a venue where guests can stay? That way you can have your morning ceremony but not so obscenely early.
If it rains and you have to utilize the park shelter, how will you handle the events that are centered around the eclipse?
Look, I think it's fine to have an eclipse wedding. What's not fine is making guests get up at 6:30, spend over an hour in traffic and sit around for a 11:30 am wedding.
Find a venue along the 70 mile path where everyone can stay, and have your wedding there. No one is saying not to have an eclipse wedding. We are saying be more thoughtful and respectful of your guests' time. I'm a morning person, and viewed several total eclipse- even hiked in to see some. I think this is a bit much.
Don't punish your guests for the lack of foresight on your end. If anything, you should be driving an hour to go to your guests not making them come to you. It's just way too early to ask people to be up for a nearly midday eclipse. Especially because it was preventable but you didn't book in time.
Anybody else have Bonnie Tyler stuck in their head?
It is small, and I can guarantee you probably won't find any eclipse brides here.
As someone who is also planning a remote wedding, and who is down for weird adventures, I would be pumped for your wedding. But I also wake up at 4am every weekend for 3 months each fall to stalk woodland creatures through the bush. Getting "wedding ready" that early wouldn't be an issue for us.
Try not to let the Knot make you feel bad about your wedding. Nothing you are doing is breaking etiquette. I think it sounds like fun.
YES. But this version (I hope the link works!):
It is a small-ish community so yes you may have trouble finding someone else doing the same thing. Technically, no, this plan isn't breaking etiquette but there is the comfort of your guests to consider. If EVERYONE attending the wedding regularly gets up early on the weekends to go adventuring, then sure it's great, go for it. I'm a pretty adventurous person so it would probably be cool, but I know plenty of people who aren't.
Not every single guest will 100% love every aspect of a wedding. I loathe sitting through mass (and I was raised Catholic and spent 2.5 years in a convent, sooo I even know what's going on and I still dislike it). I don't like weddings in the middle of huge cities because I hate traffic. I think weddings at those wedding chapel/wedding venues that are just for weddings are kind of boring. I prefer a DJ over a live band. I don't mind gaps if there are things I can do to kill time. Every guest has their own preferences.
It's unrealistic to try and cater to EVERYONE. If a good portion of your guests are into adventure (she's only having 30 people, it's a fair bet she probably knows them all well) then it's fine.
No everyone won't love EVERY aspect of everything but there's a big difference between sitting through mass and traveling over an hour early in the morning to a remote location. DJ vs band is a preference thing, location and time of day can impact guest comfort.
Like I said, at only 30 guests, I'm sure OP knows most of them pretty well (we are having twice that and I would easily be able to identify my guests that wouldn't be thrilled to get up that early). I don't think it's necessary too poo-poo over people's plans just because of the potential discomfort of guests we don't even know. Especially when they aren't even breaking etiquette. If a guest doesn't want to get up early and do all the travelling, they can decline the invite. No big deal.
I personally would rather get up early and drive a far peice for breakfast than sit through mass. However I don't tell brides not to have Catholic ceremonies due to my discomfort with the church. That would be rude, as they are within their right to have such weddings.
No one is telling her not to have her eclipse wedding. We are saying that maybe she should think through some ideas where it is more convenient for her guests comfort. Why is this situation binary? Why can she not do some better planning/ organisation AND have the eclipse wedding.
If a Catholic bride posted she was having 8 am pick-ups for an 11:30 Mass, I can guarantee you everyone would have the same comments.
There are limited locations/hotels/venues to properly experience the eclipse. They did their best to make it as convenient as possible (arranging transportation, and rooms to the best of their ability). Did anyone actually READ that it's not like they can just move the location because everywhere is full? We don't do weddings in early July in these parts because of the Calgary Stampede. Good luck booking rooms or venues for anything. Plus the rates triple or more. Traffic is a nightmare. Many locals book vacation time so we can LEAVE the city. Maybe if you're not used to your place of residence hosting major events, you can't relate.
It's a single day, and a very very small guest list. If guests really can't tolerate the getting up and travelling (they don't even have to drive themselves so that's a plus) then they can decline. I just don't see any of her plans being that problematic.
But weddings don't have to be like this, which is what everyone here is saying. If you are inviting people to your event (wedding or otherwise) you should take their comfort into account. If the OP wasn't inviting anyone to the event they could get up as early as they want, do whatever they want, but the minute you invite guests, regardless of how many or how close they are, you need to think about them.
As far as your middle paragraph, yes, I lived in a city that hosted a humongous international airplane festival for a week every summer. I also grew up down the road from a NFL stadium. In both of those places, I knew people who made plans to get out of town or even rent out their house to out-of-towners. We all knew better than to schedule anything during those times, or if we did to plan WAY in advance because getting around town was awful and hotel were more expensive. The festival was the same week every year, and couples would wait to confirm their wedding date until football schedules were posted. When there's something incredibly huge going on, you either plan waaaaay ahead of time or alter your plans. That's the part that, to me, speaks to putting a vision ahead of everything.
I admit I missed where OP said she's only having 30 guests; that's much more manageable and much easier to confirm that everyone can handle the trek and would be up for the adventure. That does change things slightly.