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

Based on responses I would say if you’re worried about people not being able to make it, you should do either a Saturday or Sunday afternoon (so it’s not on a work day), either the week before or the week after Memorial Day (so it’s not a holiday weekend). Depends on the size of your wedding though, and on how much you care if everyone can come!

If I was close to the person and could get off of work, I would totally come to a Friday wedding! I wouldn't think it's weird or cheap at all either, I would probably think it was fun and (since most people around me do Saturday weddings) different!

My only advice echoes what others have said: consider having your wedding a little farther out (ie: a couple weeks before or after) Memorial Day. I think that's where a bulk of your declines would come in play.

That being said, with your wedding not being until 2020, you could probably make your VIPs aware that your wedding will be on a Friday and they'll have time to plan around it. Bonus: with your wedding being in 2020, the people who can't get off of work easily may have a better chance since it's so far out!

I would suggest trying the Sunday if you can, as people will be off on Monday anyway.

Hey there, our wedding is coming up this October 12th, which is a Friday. We also chose a Friday wedding because the venue we fell in love with offered us a huge discount on the venue & food if we had it that day instead of a Saturday or Sunday. At first I was nervous because I thought maybe no one would come, but we sent out our Save The Date cards last October (a year in advance) and because of that, many of our friends & family who typically work Friday's were able to request time off with plenty of notice; something our guests were super appreciative of. So I think as long as you give plenty of notice, most people will be able to attend your big day

My only concern for your specific date in mind though, is the fact it's the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. I do know there are many employers that will NOT give their employees holiday pay for Monday (Memorial Day) if the employee misses the work day before (Friday) or after (Tuesday); so I would just maybe be cautious of that. Otherwise, Friday weddings are no biggie

Thanks everybody for the comments. After going over everything with my FH, we think we're going to move our date to a Sunday evening on the weekend after Memorial Day, which would cost us $2200, rather than $3500 for a Saturday evening or $900 for a weekday afternoon wedding. This way, we should have a higher attendance, and airfares/travel will be cheaper. Thank you all for your input!!

View Quoted Comment Good idea! I’m actually getting married the Sunday of the weekend after Memorial Day next year so it’s a good weekend I like it also because then the week before you’ll have a 3 day weekend to get last minute wedding stuff done!

Is there a price difference for if you do Sunday afternoon rather than Sunday evening? Do you just prefer the evening?