Non-Saturday Weddings, is Friday or Sunday better?

Best advice, know your guest list. For us, it made sense to have a Friday wedding because we plan to continue the celebration through the weekend. Even though a lot of the older crowd will probably leave after the reception, we will continue out bar hopping and do it all over again on Saturday night.

We are doing a Sunday wedding. But we are starting at 2 with dinner around 4-5 and then some dancing or whatever and plan to be done around 7ish. Then we might go to the bar for an after party or something for those who want to. But we are going for more of the back yard BBQ like you would have after church with family. And we will only have beer and wine.

We had a Friday wedding and had a good turnout. The ceremony started at 5:00, and I'd say 80% of our guests had to drive 45 minutes to 1.5 hours to get there. We even had guests from Asia make the trek! (Husband is Chinese). People did start leaving around 9:30 - most of my friends have you kids, but we were in charge of cleanup so it was nice to start that at 11:00 instead if midnight. We had the same issue as you, fell in love with a venue but every Saturday this year was booked.

Friday, absolutely. I'd probably take off work if I was within a 4 hour drive or so. If it's longer than that, I'd be annoyed because I'd probably need a half day Thursday as well, but I'd still prefer that to a DW on a Sunday, where I'd still have to take off Monday to travel.

I'd definitely prefer a Friday. As long as your guests have plenty of time to request the date off from work (which they will since you're setting your date for 2017), I wouldn't see an issue. I've attended a Friday wedding and I can honestly say I am so much happier it was a Friday than a Sunday. I'm like an old grandma - by 8:00 on Sunday I want to be in my PJs on the couch catching up on some TV getting ready for bed. If it's a brunch wedding that's different, but definitely no Sunday evening!

Thanks for the input everyone! Seems like Friday is the popular choice. Most of the guests will be young and the party type, and we are definitely set on having an evening wedding so I think we will stick to our original date of 3/10! For most people, it's an hour to an hour and a half drive, but the farthest (aside from two family members) is 3.5 hours. So if they really want to be there, they can take a half-day off work. I certainly would for someone I loved!

I recently went to a Sunday wedding that was 3.5hrs away and it didnt start until 4pm. FH and I took Monday off from work and stayed the night at the resort. Even with taking Monday off we pretty much ate and left, we were so exhausted from traveling and had to get up early to head back home. We didnt have much fun, I would have much rather attended a Friday wedding.

We're having a Friday wedding. 90% of our guest list have to fly in so they would've had to take time off either way, but most can use the weekend as vacation time.

We do more Sundays than Fridays, but I think either would be fine. Friday is going to give you more of a party atmosphere; Sunday is relaxed and comfortable.

I'd go with Friday, people have the whole weekend to relax after it. I'm having a Thursday wedding (its over school holidays and a lot of my friends are teachers), it means that there will be another party on the Friday night too for those who hang around (about 25-50%, at present say they will stay around), most of them will then head off on Saturday afternoon, and have Sunday to themselves ready for work on Monday again.

We had a Sunday wedding and had a packed dance floor all night, and shut the place down. It depends on your guests – are they the type to take a Monday off or would a Friday evening just make it easier for a lot of people on your guest list? A lot of guests traveled so they would've had to take off a day either way.

We are doing Sunday Brunch, so I guess this removes the issue of finishing too late and having people rush home!

I'm told that your guest will come no matter what, so do things the way that works best for you two.

Good luck!

I'm doing Sunday, but only because it's over Memorial Day weekend. Very few people have to work that Monday, so it won't really be an issue for us. I've been to a Friday wedding and a Sunday wedding. Pros and cons for both. Ultimately, I had to take a day off of work for both. I didn't necessarily have to for the Sunday wedding, but knew I wouldn't have a good time if I was thinking about going to work the next day. The Friday wedding ended up being super stressful for us because of traffic. So, that may be a factor.

It depends on how late you are having your reception. We are having ours on a Sunday but it ends at 10pm (venue closes at that time). It closes that time every day so we figured we might as well save some money by having it on a Sunday.

Depends on your crowd and what kind of wedding you want, I think.

Are you Jewish and Shabbat-observant, or do you have a a large, observant Jewish contingent? Want to be free the day before for last-minute DIYs? Not big drinkers or partiers? Want something earlier than a 6-7pm start time? Sunday.

Want an evening/nighttime ceremony, a big party that goes into the wee hours, and the day after your wedding to recover from your hangover/bask in wedded bliss? Friday.

I'm doing a Sunday, but I specifically choose a weekend with a Monday holiday.

Definitely prefer a Friday to a Sunday.

We are doing a Friday night wedding that will probably start around 5pm and end at 11. We will have locals as well as family who will have a 6 hour drive (we have a downtown hotel block from Wednesday to Sunday set up). Nobody has complained or stated they won't be attending so far. We wanted more of a fancy nighttime dance party, not a Sunday daytime brunch deal. Also, the venue minimum was $8,000 LESS on a Friday than a Saturday! That leaves more money for us to treat our guests with the best options.

I'm in the Friday evening camp. I have attended a Friday wedding and the party was rocking. People will take at least half of the day off and feel more like having fun on a Friday. People will not take Monday off for a Sunday wedding and therefore will leave early so they can travel and sleep before work on Monday.

Definitely depends on your guest list I think...I'm doing a Sunday night wedding that ends at 11...Most of the guests are very local though (like within 15 mins driving distance) to the venue. Most of my friends have already requested to take off work that Monday (which I would never ever ask them to do, but they did it without telling me lol) I'm sure some people might leave a little early, but personally I've always loved Sunday weddings because I'm usually too tired after work on a Friday to fully enjoy the festivities of a Fri wedding lol