Friday Evening Wedding

Omg!! Kathleen you crack me up! I love the idea of a hospitality hour before the ceremony! My caterer is planning on having salad set as well as a veggie and fruit display available right when guests come in from the ceremony so maybe I will move that to before the ceremony.

You guys are making me feel much better! Thank you!!

Friday weddings are just fine just make sure you give your guests enough notice. Even though it starts at 630pm people will probably want to take time off work or half day to get ready and get there on time.

Food available to guests BEFORE the ceremony???

Brilliant. Do it. That would so awesome as a guest to walk in on!!!!

Totally 2nd the food prior to ceremony suggestion. Was scrolling to suggest that and glad to see it was already out there!

A lil food & drink makes everybody happy. Also helps with any running late issues (traffic, work, etc) that always happen Mon-Fri

630 start time is fine we are doing the same and the last 2 weddings we have been to were a Friday at that time

We had a Friday evening wedding and it was fabulous! Go for it!

Well FSIL sounds just lovely.

I think Friday weddings are totally acceptable and I would honestly prefer a Friday wedding over a Sunday wedding. I think your timeline is perfectly fine!

I'm having a Friday night wedding. The ceremony is also at 6:30, with the cocktail hour to follow and the reception. FH and I were also worried that Friday might be harder people to join us,but we are paying for everything and Friday had the best price! His dad told us that if people really want to be there, then they will make the time available for us. I don't feel bad for having a Friday wedding. There was no way we could afford Saturday. I hope that doesn't sound mean in any way, but if they want to be there then they will come!

FH and I went to a Friday night wedding not too long ago and they had around 200 guests. We ate around 7 and it didn't seem to bother anyone.

That is exactly what we are doing. I don't think it is a problem at all.

Friday is fine. My wedding is on a Saturday, but due to my venue not being available before 7pm, people won't get dinner until 830. I'm going with it. I know it's late, but I've told guests to plan ahead.

We do Fridays all the time; in fact, both of us just got back. My partner's was at 4:30 (90% attendance) and mine was at 6:30 (almost everyone) I don't really think that the time matters that much; most of your guests will have to take an afternoon off unless they come right from work and they're local.

Mine is a Friday evening ceremony starts at 5:30

I also am getting married on a Friday and received similar feedback from some family members. The way I see it is the people who are meant to be there will come and make the proper arrangements. Plus it's an excuse for people to take a half day at work! Who wouldn't want to do that? (Unless obviously you can't financially, but still!)

I think what matters most is that you are happy and have a wedding that YOU love. Guests shouldn't care how late it is and if they do, they don't deserve to witness it. Don't stress, remember what's important!

I say go for it. I've never been to a Friday wedding, but it seems they're becoming more common. If a friend of mine was getting married on a Friday, I'd probably just take a half day at work (maybe even a full day, if I had to travel). Your timeline also sounds reasonable.

Idk where you're based but in NYC, Friday weddings are really common and it's actually preferred by a lot. Saturday weddings take up your guests' entire weekend while a Friday wedding is more like a party to celebrate the start of the weekend. With that said, I think a 7:30 pm dinner is totally fine. Most people won't have to take the day off.

My wedding is exactly one week before yours. We're starting at 5 (due to sunset time for pics). Most of our guests are out of state, so I expect a lot of nos. With enough notive people can change their schedules if they really want to attend. A little something before the ceremony might be nice.

Many of our venues do a hospitality time first; it works out REALLY well because it does allow some stragglers to get there for the ceremony.

Fridays here are really popular, and Thursdays are becoming so too. Part of that is that people are booking so far ahead (so they can save) that if you're looking for fall 2017, you may find your choices on Saturdays are really limited....