Holiday weekend weddings, yay or nay?

View Quoted Comment Date twin!! Ours is that Friday as well. And we had the same thoughts, after Friday our friends and family have the whole 3 days to do whatever they want! Congrats!

View Quoted Comment I totally agree with this! Holiday travel is more expensive so we’re usually home but I don’t want to give up my July 4th time off. Thanksgiving-Christmas is chaotic, do not want to go to a wedding unless early first weekend in Dec. If the hotel block was cheap enough, I’d love to go to a NYE wedding if it had dancing!

I am having our wedding on july fourth of next year! I think people who think they have to go are over thinking it, no we don't think you have nothing better to do and our feelings wouldn't be hurt if anyone declines. We actually are hoping some will decline bc our list is large. We are looking it as a way to invite everyone important to us and let them weed themselves out so our catering and required alcohol, bartenders and security is cheaper lol. We both have family cook outs that day every year and discussed with immediate family so we know they are coming. When people book on holidays we know everyone won't come, it's pretty much expected. Kind of like a destination wedding.

Well people may forget this, but sometimes venues offer cheaper pricing on Sundays or Fridays. There may be a HUGE difference in pricing for a venue if it's on a Sunday. The holiday weekend is like a Saturday but you're not paying the premium Saturday night price. So don't be upset with people for still trying to host within their means. Holiday weekend weddings are great, but unfortunately they're harder for ME and people my age to get off because of WE ARE OPEN ALL HOLIDAYS AND 365 DAYS A YEAR AND WE HAVE TWO PEOPLE FOR 365 DAYS A YEAR, and my boss is totally a jerk about me getting time off. It is nice for people who have jobs that have weekends off, but so many of us don't that it really doesn't matter anymore. I make my plans for the wedding, before I make other plans usually.

I actually prefer holiday weekend weddings when attending as a guest. If it is a holiday that I have other plans, I may not attend, but as a teacher I usually get up at 4 AM, so regular weekend weddings end up with me absolutely exhausted either during the wedding (if it is a Friday wedding) or on the Monday after for school (if it is a Saturday wedding). So holiday weekends are just more relaxing and I don't do camping so it isn't like I'm doing anything during memorial or labor day weekends anyway. I feel like this is the general thought of my friends so I feel like it is a know your crowd and what is important to them kind of thing.

My wedding is next December, and I just found out that our wedding is literally following Thanksgiving weekend. (When I started planning last October, I thought I had a week between Thanksgiving and our wedding.) But nope, Thanksgiving is Thursday and our wedding is the following Monday. But I’m hoping that because I’ve given everyone two years notice, most can make it. 🤞🏻 We’ll see though.

This is a good attitude. See I'm okay with people having Holiday weddings if they understand that many people will want to say no, or will say no. I had one friend who had hers memorial day weekend but it was in a southern state about 4 hours away and they did a hotel block for the whole weekend, so it was a slight destination where they had log cabins and such so it was sort of like "here's your camping designation for memorial day if you'd like to come, but no pressure" and they told all of us they understood if we couldn't come... but at the same time all of my husbands cousins purposely plan theirs for memorial and labor day and get mad if you don't come because they figure you have to be free to come to their wedding with all those extra days off. it makes me so frustrated. I'm completely okay with holiday weddings as long as people understand lower attendance and don't get upset when people decline (which hasn't been the case for me because DH's family goes insane if you don't show up to every single cousins wedding in their family of 100 people).... I guess I'm also frustrated because they all have a 4 hour catholic gap too, I'd be okay if their wedding was a Friday night from 5-11pm but it's always a Saturday from 11am to 11 pm with only one meal, huge gaps and long ceremonies.

I think it depends on the weekend. i've been to a couple of Thanksgiving weekend weddings for childhood friends which were specifically planned for that weekend knowing that most folks would be home. (I'm talking Canadian Thanksgiving, which I think isn't quite as big a deal as in the States) it was pretty convenient for most people. holiday weekend or not, you're never going to be able to please everyone and there's always bound to be a conflict. it's possible that holiday weekends pose more chances of this if people have standing plans, but i don't think it really matters. we inadvertently got married on what we learned was Memorial Day weekend (not a thing in Canada obviously, haha) and a couple of our American guests said they were thankful for an extra day off to travel.

Even though it leaves more time I suppose, I feel like this pretty much only benefits the couple and the other people close to the couple, who will be with them celebrating all weekend. Personally I despise travelling on holiday weekends... flights are more expensive and airports are crowded, traffic is a nightmare, etc. I wouldn't *mind* attending a wedding on a holiday weekend, but I certainly feel as if a non-holiday weekend is more beneficial to the guests.

Even if I wanted to attend a wedding and needed a 3-day weekend to travel, personally I'd rather take a day off work (as long as there's plenty of notice) than have to travel on a holiday weekend.

Our wedding is the Saturday of memorial day weekend next year. I've sent out our save the dates early just in case, but I also know my family doesn't do anything for that holiday weekend except for the actual memorial day to have a cookout.
If you have other plans that weekend, fine doesn't bother me.

We are getting married Labor Day weekend 2019. We chose this because we are doing a destination wedding. We chose our date over a year in advance and let our guests know. We are hoping that our guests who can attend will use it as a weekend getaway. We understand if our guests have other plans though. We have also gone to weddings where we had to take a Friday or Monday off of work to attend so we thought this was a considerate way to not have to make our guests use their valuable pto if they want to attend. I can understand the other side of the conversation that we are taking someone’s holiday weekend. We feel that our family and friends who want to celebrate with us will be happy to be there on that weekend.

We went to a wedding over Labor Day weekend - I would have preferred it not be on a holiday weekend as the long weekends are rare for us and we would have liked to take a trip to camp etc.

Well dont people always have plans weather its a holidat weekend or not. Do u guys think of what would be best for the bride and groom? So sorry but we did not set our date based on what would be convenient for everyone else. Dont like our May 26th holiday date and cant care enough about us to put aside a camping trip or a long weekend trip then crap on ya. Its not about the guest its about me and my FH.

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Great minds think alike! Lol, we want them to have their weekend and I don't many guests will complain about taking a Friday off of work as well to make it a four day weekend congrats to you as well!

Oh my gosh. I was supposed to be IN a wedding Easter weekend. She was getting married the day before. So I guess technically not on Easter? Well I was last minute bridesmaid b/c her bff bailed. Then she gets mad at me because I can't do it because its a holiday weekend and one of the TWO times a year I get to visit with my stepson. Like damn.

But yeah, I don't like holiday weekend weddings. I don't think its rude, per say. But its not very thoughtful.

My fiancee and I are planning on getting married next Memorial day. Which sounded great picking that weekend because it would be a three day weekend and it just seemed to be best for us. However, we are finding out that it is making it very difficult to actually book anything with our location...(we live in Virginia Beach, va). The places we were thinking about using for the reception won't on peak season because it's peak season AND a holiday, but can off season! Then there are other places that raises the prices (of course) because it's peak season, and a Saturday...and a holiday... So, triple wammy!!! We are currently thinking about changing our date to an off season month in hopes to make planning easier and budget friendly.

I'll admit I was hesitant to book the Saturday of MDW because I didn't want to impose a busy travel weekend on everyone, especially since ours is a Vegas DW for all of us. We were in a bind on our scheduling. I graduate from business school beginning of May, then the venue was booked the next two weekends, and we wanted to avoid June because of honeymoon and then moving to Texas since I start my job in July. We considered the weekend after MDW, but my folks (who are bankrolling the event) said THAT would be annoying, since it would force a 3 day work week. So we proceeded with MDW and so far everyone is pumped to have a long weekend in Vegas. Know your audience, and you won't go wrong.

Tbh I never understood the aversion to long weekend weddings. If it’s a real holiday like Christmas or New Years or thanksgiving that makes sense because those are times you definitely have standing plans. No one I know has standing plans for a long weekend like Memorial Day or Labor Day they wouldn’t be willing to miss for one year or to move around slightly depending on the person. If they aren’t close enough to want to do that then they can just decline 🤷🏼‍♀️. Most people will give you at least a years notice so it’s not like it’s out of the blue.


We had a wedding Sunday of Labor Day weekend. We got the Sunday pricing and a Saturday feel. It wasn’t any more expensive for guests to travel since in our area at least most people are either already back in school or heading back thatweek so people don’t go anywhere other than the shore. We didn’t have any higher of a decline rate than any other wedding (135 invited 105 attended and most of that were OOS guests with kids or older relatives we didn’t expect to come anyway). Most of our guests where OOS and were glad to not have to take an extra day off or an extra excuse for one last vacation.


At the end end of the day so long as your VIPs are on our board it’s not any better or worse than any other date and can work out even better for the couple when guests

I’m not a big fan of holiday weekend weddings. I agree with the PP that said she’d rather take a day off (with enough notice) than go through the hassle of traveling on a holiday weekend to a wedding that’s not local. We’re going to one Columbus Day weekend (which isn’t even a major holiday), and the flights were so expensive that we’re taking pretty inconvienet flights there and then taking the train home instead of flying. If it was the following weekend I’d have happily taken an extra day off and flown both ways and it probably would have been more budget friendly all around, even with the lost day of work.

I really don’t like holiday/ holiday weekend weddings. We always have plans for each holiday. Also, if it’s a wedding I have to travel to I’m declining for sure. I hate traveling when so many other people are (driving) or the extra expense at holidays (flying).