Getting married on a late Friday morning/having an afternoon reception

The people who want to go will go. I don't think a Friday brunch is terrible. If you're hosting properly and that's how you can do it within budget, then it's fine. I'd take a day off to see my close friends or family get married on a Friday as long as I was well fed!

the only thing I'd perhaps suggest is not doing a holiday weekend. Some people may have traditions plus traveling is always expensive and hellish around Memorial Day.

You do have to expect that there will be more declines when you are asking people to take a full day off work. As the pp said, if you have OOT guests, airfares are always higher on both sides of a holiday weekend.

There are other options to cut the cost- cutting the guest list is the first that comes to mind.

I agree with the previous person, the holiday weekend may be problematic. Check with your guests to see if they typically have plans on that weekend. Most people I know go away on Memorial day and do the sane thing each year. As for the Friday wedding this part shouldnt be a problem if you give your guests enough tine to arrange for that day off work. I have taken off a day to go to a friends Monday wedding. I'm sure others will try to get the day off also for your wedding

I think most people will be ok with it, Friday weddings are very common. Not trying to be rude or anything but I personally don't prefer Friday weddings. I also don't get too excited for weddings booked on or close to a holiday. However, with enough notice, I would still attend for someone I'm close to.

Weddings are expensive, and I think that it is great that you're trying to find ways to reduce the cost. And yes, to answer your question, people know that Friday weddings are more affordable, I don't think there's anything wrong with that piece, it doesn't scream cheap to me but financially smart.

I'm def a sucker for brunch so I would be more excited for Friday brunch wedding than a Friday night wedding.

Brunch on a holiday weekend, I would pass even if was a Sat or Sun. Holiday weekends are precious to many so if you have a wedding most expect to be hosted well with lots of booze and food in the evening and likely multiple events like a welcome reception or morning after brunch. Could just be my crew, but I personally wouldn’t take off work for a brunch wedding, especially not on a holiday weekend.

Thanks for all of your feedback. I never traveled anywhere for Memorial Day weekend, so I have no experience with thinking like others! My fiancé and I are pretty flexible with our date, so we may try and move our date to the 29th of May or get in contact with those coming out of town.

People that want to attend will, but I would expect a lot of declines. It being attached to a holiday weekend may make it more expensive for guests to travel and may make it harder to take off work. Personally I would only attend a Friday morning wedding if it was a very close friend or immediate family member.

We had our wedding on a Sunday evening (non-holiday weekend) with almost all guests coming from out of town. It didn't affect our guest list much because even if it were on a Saturday, people would likely have had to take Friday off to travel. This way they took Monday off.
That being said, I do believe you would get a large # of in-town declines for a mid-day workday wedding. Not many in town guests would want to take a day off for a brunch wedding. Have you thought about a Sunday brunch wedding? Is that doable?

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Hi Luna. We thought about doing a Sunday afternoon wedding, but unfortunately, our venue doesn't do any Sunday afternoon events. From reading the comments above, I am considering doing a Sunday evening wedding along with cutting down our guest list to 100 instead of 125. We might also cut down from a full open bar to a limited bar for alcohol as well.

I don't think you'll get made fun of. I think the biggest issue you'll have is people not being able to take off work. A lot of companies wont let you take off right before a holiday weekend. Or like the company my FH works at and the last two companies I worked for, if you requested off the work day before a holiday off you didnt get holiday pay. So for families on a tight budget that may be tough for them missing out on 2 days of work (even though one is a holiday) other than that I dont see any issues with a Friday wedding.

We’re doing a Sunday afternoon brunch! Still much cheaper than Saturday night dinner but then no one has to take off of work (though, if you give people enough notice that shouldn’t be an issue either way). I love that ours is Sunday afternoon since we have Friday night to celebrate with friends, Saturday to prep, and Saturday night for rehearsal dinner You’ll have to keep in mind if you to a Friday afternoon wedding that you will probably need to take at least Thursday off of work as well for preparations!

The short answer to your question is no, it does not seem cheap lol, especially since you are both just out of college people will understand. (FH and I also both just graduated so in a similar boat!) But I’d recommend looking into Sunday afternoon as well!

We also love the idea of having an afternoon wedding because it makes the celebration last the whole day, not just the evening!

Anyone not willing to take a day off for a wedding with that much notice probably wouldn’t come no matter when it is... I personally love all kinds of weddings and if I’m being invited I assume I’m close to the person so I would make sure I get the day off! One thing with that date is people with kids... it’s close to the end of the school year and I know my girls have their fun field trips around that time so they wouldn’t want to miss school... I would for sure go if it was in town but out of town would depend on the kids schedule

There’s a lot working against you here. Holiday airfare is going to be outrageous and lots of people have standing holiday plans. Friday weddings can work, and Saturday or Sunday afternoon weddings can work, but a Friday afternoon during a holiday weekend will be pushing it for a lot of people. While I think that your VIPs will find a way to make it work, I would expect a high decline rate from others.

I hate this “people who want to come will” mentality. There have been plenty of weddings that I WANTED to attend, and was unable to. Sometimes it’s just not that realistic. So don’t think everyone that declines a Friday day wedding doesn’t want to come. You WILL get more declines— and that’s okay. Bear in mind that it will obligate most people to take the day off work, and not everyone has the flexibility they would like with that, and it’s not about you.

Check with your VIPs to make sure that they all can swing the Friday, and then go from there (parents, best friends, etc). If all your most important people are able, run with it.
I’ve not been to a daytime Friday wedding, only evening ones, but, if I have to travel
for the Friday wedding, I need the whole day anyway (I have an out of town Friday wedding before Columbus Day weekend, and I will say, flights are kind of painfully expensive! — but the point is, the time of day of that wedding ultimately didn’t matter much to em, since I need the whole day anyway.)

All that said: I don’t think you’ll get made fun of, and I don’t think people will decline bc ‘friday is less fun’ so those fears aren’t major concerns to me. Though people may decline because the weekday is a challenge, it won’t be because of Fridays being lame. Non-Saturday weddings are becoming more and more popular these days

I don’t think you’ll get made fun of, but as PPs have suggested it’s possible you’ll have more declines with it being in the middle of a weekday and with how expensive travel can be on a holiday weekend. I don’t know your guests, but I know that even if we wanted to attend, H isn’t allowed to take the Friday off before a long weekend unless he’s taking several days of PTO so we wouldn’t attend. It’s just the way the company keeps requests lower for 4 day weekends.

Hi Sydney! Welcome to the WeddingWire Community! I definitely think people will make time to attend; however, you would definitely have to inform them in advance to allow them to make plans since it will be around a holiday weekend. I also wouldn't worry about being made fun of; people have weddings at whichever dates work best for them according to a number of reasons! I really hope you're able to work something out! Good luck!

I know Friday weddings are becoming more popular but I'm not sure how Friday late morning weddings would be. Honestly I'd put out some feelers to guests and see there reactions. Know that you might have a higher rate of decline (but you might not!!) Holiday weekends are a little tough for people too so you might want to pick a different Friday.

Do as I say not as I do, I'm having a Monday afternoon wedding DW on Columbus day hahaha but we were prepared for no one to come and were delightfully surprised when people started booking trips!

The other thing you might see if a lot more people at your reception like they might take a half day and at least make it to the reception

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Your first sentence is really presumptuous. My H and I are the newest hires in our practices. Guess who always gets to choose vacation last? Us. Guess who typically covers holiday weekends? Us. Even taking off a Friday in town would be difficult on a holiday weekend because the other doctors in the practice usually take a four day weekend, so we cover for them on Friday. And I know that our situation is true for many other professions. Just because you have an easy ability to take time off doesn't mean everyone else does.

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Allllllll of this!!!

People will come if they are able and want to, but not everyone that wants to will be able to.