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Are you guest out of town or local?
If you want a friday wedding, but the word out and see how guest feel about it. if they are willing to sacrafice a day of work.
If they are out of town, would they have to take friday off anyways? Maybe it'll be okay.
Have you considered a Sunday wedding instead of friday?
It'll still save you $$

Call your priest. Friday is easier for them than Saturday because they have Saturday night Mass, (I'm assuming you're Catholic?). People leave work early to attend a wedding. Most people, if they know about it ahead of time, can take a Friday afternoon off, or leave a little early. Most Friday night ceremonies are at 5 or 5:30 and the cocktail hour is at 6 or 6:30 with the actual reception starting at 7 to 7:30. Your DJ will work your schedule to have dinner at a reasonable time although I've seen people on the East Coast eating dinner as late as 9pm. Most places do a 5 hour reception, so that would get you out of there by 11 or 11:30. Still time for an after party! If somebody has a really restrictive work schedule, they may miss the ceremony, but they will be there for the reception. It works!

Yes, you can totally do this. We had a Catholic wedding on a Friday afternoon and it was fine. We only had 3 guests not come specifically due to work (others didn't come for random other reasons, like money.) If you are worried about people getting off work, see if your church can do a later ceremony like at 7pm. Ours was at 4pm because we didn't want such a late reception. You said priest so I am assuming you are Catholic too? A Catholic mass is typically one hour or if you are skipping mass and doing a ceremony (which is what we did) then is 30-40 minutes. It will probably start 10-15 min late because that's just how weddings are. Then budget time for you to exit the church and people to get to the reception hall. You'll have to keep in mind the distance, whether there is traffic at that hour, etc. Our reception was an hour and a half after the ceremony started and that was a perfect amount of time given our distance and traffic. Hope that helps!

yes im catholic. i just thought it would be harder on a friday cuz ppl work, and most the ppl are from around here besides my mom and grandmother in FL. the reason we are having the wedding on Sept 3 is because my aunt passed away June 25th from cancer and she was more of a mother type then the aunt type and sept 3rd is the day her and my uncle got married so i cant switch the day, well i dont want to. do u think the priest would marry us in the hall? lol doubtful huh

No a catholic priest will only marry you in a catholic church, not the hall. Been there...hahaha.

Don't get married in the hall if you want a church wedding. And, I don't think the priest would do it anyway. Have the church wedding. Lots of people do it! It works!

I doubt it, Catholics are really strict you have to be married inside the church. But, it wouldn't hurt to ask your priest. If your friends are local then getting off work shouldn't be a problem (although I think local guests are more flaky than out of town guests because they can change their minds at the last minute, whereas the OOT guests will have bought plane tickets, made reservations, etc.) Also isn't that the friday before labor day weekend? An excellent way to kick off the weekend!

I think you can do it on Friday. Your family should be supportive, especially because the date has such meaning to you. Go for it!

why would you get married in the hall as opposed to the church? i think a friday wedding will be fine. maybe you have an evening ceremony that way it doesn't inconvenience your guests TOO much. but with a year's notice, I can't see it being too much of a bother b/c folks have time to plan for it. They can take a vacation day or a half day depending on what time you schedule your ceremony. i think it's great of you to honor your aunt in that way. and i think your friends & family will make the sacrifice to join you.

yea and thats the other thing its labor day weekend and ppl go away so im nervous about that too

My coworker had his wedding over labor day weekend this past year. Over 300 people came. Seriously, I wouldnt worry about it. If you are super worried then talk it over with your family, wedding party, and people who you REALLY want to come. If they tell you that it's no problem, then go for it!

Also if you have a 7pm wedding there is no excuse for people not to come, most people don't work past 5 or 6.

they can still go away if they choose to. they can leave on saturday AM. OR if it's mostly family, maybe you can get together with some of your other family members and plan a whole weekend of activities. that way people don't feel slighted by "losing" their labor day weekend. i think if you explain to people WHY you chose your date, they won't begrudge you. just set up a wedding website and tell your story. have you already announced your engagement? Or when you send out save the dates (and i would do it very early since it IS a holiday weekend) put your wedding website on your STD.

By the way...I love Gloucester! It's going to be beautiful next Labor Day weekend! Good Luck!

I agree with yada...can the wedding be later in the evening?

Have the church wedding you've always wanted! you may regret it if you don't. If you're worried about it being a Friday and a weekend that people would maybe plan other things, then you'll probably want to make sure to do Save the Dates about 6 mos or so out from the wedding. That way people that really want to be there will be able to have enough notice to consider when they'll take their vacations and take care of work related things. I personally wouldn't sacrifice such a meaningful date and a meaningful place so a few extra guests can be there. I think those who want to will make it work. Good luck!

Since your wedding is on a holiday weekend I'd invest in Save the Date cards. That way all your family and friends will know your wedding is that weekend and will know to plan ahead and not plan other activities.

It's not hard to have a church wedding on a Friday. I'm planning my wedding on a friday and during a holiday weekend. Speak to your priest first. If he agrees to do it on a Friday then you're ok. It works out too cause you can pretty much make it any time that works out for them and you. We're having ours at 2pm then the ceremony at 6pm. It's nice cause it'll give you time before the reception to take photos and relax. Rushing after the ceremony can be stressful. Also, you may have a small turn out for your ceremony, but that sometimes happens on weddings on the weekends. You should give people notice ahead of time that its a friday and since it's labor day weekend, they may have a half day at work. The ones that truly matter will be there for you. Good luck with your planning!

Im also getting married Sept 3, 2010. Mine is a outdoor wedding at 1pm. I figured since it was labor day weekend alot of people take friday off anyways and if our guests really wanted to see us get married then they would make it no matter what.

Ok if you change the day from Friday to Sunday good luck! A LOT of Catholic Churches won't allow it (I know because it took me about 3 months to find a church for our Sunday wedding). And a Priest will not marry anywhere else other than in a church.

Keep in mind that most people who are given ample notice about the wedding will request the day off work (at least those who REALLY want to be there for you) and some others may try, but not be able to, but usually people are home by 6ish so I would think 7 would be a good time to start cocktail hour and have dinner by 8.

Hope this helps!