I am sooo excited about our venue!! It's at a pumpkin patch and we are doing a mid-October wedding in 2024. However, I'm having a hard time deciding between Friday or Saturday. Either way we would have our ceremony around 4:30 pm. Since we are paying a decent amount of money for this pumpkin patch venue, I want guests (and us as newlyweds!) to have time to enjoy the activities, see the animals, and ride the hayride before it gets dark outside. We would also be doing super casual cocktail hour/apps during this time before dinner.
Friday: $500 cheaper for venue, might have more choices for vendors, venue is closed to the public all day on Fridays (so won't be having to take pictures in front of crowds of strangers during the day), free use of venue for rehearsal/decorating on Thursday night. I'm aware that some people couldn't make it to the ceremony, which I wouldn't be upset about. A smaller ceremony would be nice, and if some people just come to the reception I would understand! I guess overall I'm nervous that a majority of people wouldn't come at all or be angry for having to use PTO.
Saturday: venue is open to the public until 4 pm and we are not allowed to have the ceremony until 4:30. This takes away the groom's getting ready suite during the day since it is open to the public (bridal suite and ceremony barn are still closed to the public). No access to the venue on Friday night. However, Saturday would be more convenient from a guest perspective. I have about 10 extended family members that live out of state but honestly if they don't make it, I wouldn't mind. Not sure how parking works if we have guests arriving while general public is leaving, especially for our vendors. That's something I still need to ask the venue coordinator.
I don't have many VIP's to ask besides my immediate family. They don't necessarily like a Friday wedding, but could still take off work to be there.
