Pros and Cons of a Friday or Sunday wedding

We are doing a friday wedding and saved about 400 bucks by not doing it on a saturday

I went to a Friday wedding a month before my Sunday wedding. The only thing with a Friday is to do it late enough to account for people's work schedules and traffic. I had to kill half a day because the ceremony was at 4:45PM, and not only that, the reception ended at, like, 10. They went out after, but for killing half a day, I would have expected to be out longer.

I had a Sunday brunch wedding, 10:30AM ceremony. We had to have it on a Sunday due to H's work schedule, and it had to be early enough for the few OOT'ers to be able to make it home at a decent time. We were done around 3PM. Having a brunch certainly saved us money, since we were on a budget with a large family to invite.

Basically, either day is fine, but be aware you may lose some people on either day. We had the majority of RSVPs show up, so it worked out fine for us. And let people know well beforehand -- talk to your VIPs (parents, siblings, etc.) first about their preference, and go from there.

I can see that. I'm a a party pooper by 11pm. We were thinking of a Sunday because of work schedules. It can be tough taking Thursday and Friday off for a wedding, but was thinking having a Monday off of work would be better. Take one day off instead of two.

Do you have a lot of out of town guests? Are you dead set on having dinner? Even if you did a lunch reception, people would still have time to get home and not have to take time off if they don't have to.

I am getting married on the Sunday evening of Memorial Day wknd and so far everyone is crazy about the idea because they can enjoy Atlanta and come to the wedding and then travel home on the holiday. If your date is set in stone, the pro I see is: Saving money, having a more "relaxed" feel as people are generally already busy on Saturdays, and having the whole weekend to prep for the big day. The cons: people having to work the next day (although they could schedule to take off), and finding an officiant who may not be holding church services during that time slot. However, I am sure it will all work out as you plan

I am getting married on a Friday this July. We are saving about a thousand dollars doing it this way. We have out of town guests coming but they are very happy to take vacation days to come and celebrate, and it is nice that they will have an extra day to relax (Saturday) before heading back home.

Luckily we do have an officiant who doesn't do Sunday evening services which is nice. Although, we both have families in different states. I'll have to ask around my family and see what they think. I guess we could brave it and shoot for Nov. 9th and pray for no blizzard lol

My cousin had his wedding on a Friday evening last summer in NYC. I was glad. Took the day off of work to fly in that morning, wedding Friday, and I had the rest of the weekend in New York to do what I wanted. I loved it, and considered a Friday wedding myself, but it didn't work with our families.

On a semi-related note, how did you find out what the Farmer's Almanac said? I have been trying to find out what they say for a Chicago outdoor wedding on Oct 5, 2013 but haven't figured out how to do so. Did you buy it?

We did our wedding on sunday afternoon, it gave our church going friends and family still time to go to church that morning also helped with our bridal party all being out of town and having the rehearsal on saturday no one had to take extra days off work. it worked perfect and we saved a ton of money with all of our vendors by doing it on sunday.

I prefer Friday weddings because they have more of a party atmosphere. It depends on what you are going for. If you want a calmer atmosphere I would do Sunday.

We do them every weekend. If you do a Friday,make it late enough so people can actually get there; Sunday is an afternoon day.

I wouldn't put too much stock in the farmers almanac, honestly.

Serioysly don't set a date based on the almanac.

Megan - We bought it at a bookstore. My MOH works at a B&B and they used the Alamac to help with wedding times. I know it's a prediction but since winter came late this year in OK, I would place a bet it will come early in 2013. I know it's silly but being in early Nov. I want to make sure the weather is at least decent. I can't afford a snowed in wedding. lol.

Plus farmers use it for crops, kind of the same say for a bride, just not crops lol

Yea, first off, if you want a Saturday just do it the 7th- the farmers almanac is not perfect. Second, pros are saving money and in my opinion, that is it. Cons are that people wont come at all, skip the ceremony if its a friday because the cant'wont take off work, on Sundays that if its too late, people might not come because of work the next day.

The reality is, the people who love you, are going to be there no matter what day of the week it is. They will make it a priority, IMO. If they don't want to come, don't come then! This is YOUR day, do you what you want to do.

We are doing a Sunday evening wedding. At first we thought it was great because it saved us $4,000 from doing a Saturday at the same venue. But now people are starting to complain. We have a few pastors who would be guests, who are saying they can't come, even though it will be well after their church service. And we have people complaining about the next day being Monday, even though they don't have a job. But those who are closest to us and love us are just happy to be there. And they are doing whatever it takes to have a great evening. Whether that means taking off work the next day or going in a bit tired. So I hope a few don't come. It will be less money for us to pay for food.

The way I see it is have it at the venue you want on a Sunday or a Friday. People will make arrangements. Wouldn't you for someone you love and care about?

Gotta step in and make sure people understand something -- it's not always that easy for people to take a day off or take a chance on showing up to work late or anything. That doesn't mean they don't love you, it just means that they have financial (or other) obligations they HAVE to meet, and unfortunately, that may be at the cost of your wedding.

I know my family in PR would have LOVED to have been here for my wedding, but the financial realities (even with me helping some) didn't allow for it. H has cousins who would have loved to be there, but unfortunately, they have children to take care of and weren't able to make it.

Please don't confuse some folks not being able to make your wedding as them not caring enough about you. Some people have hard decisions to make about their situations, and that doesn't make them bad people, it makes them people that had to make a choice.

I got married on a Sunday (10/10/10) in the evening. I invited 70 people, but knew that half of them wouldn't be coming from the start (hubby's family wanted to make it a girls weekend (plus dad) for some reason, and several guests got a plus 1 that I figured they wouldn't use). I had 45 people there - pretty much everyone I figured we'd have. The ceremony started at 5:30pm so that hubby and I could get fall sunset photos for most of the portraits taken during cocktail hour. Reception was in the next room and lasted until 10pm. Everyone stayed the entire time and had a blast!! Some people took the next day off, some didn't need to.

Honestly, we were planning everything for what we wanted and figured if people could come they would be there.

I agree that Friday night is a good time as long as people are able to get there in time. If they don't have something to do before the wedding, maybe you can put some suggestions on your website or something.

(cont'd...)

Late morning/early afternoon weddings are ok, but keep in mind that you and the BP have to get ready SUPER EARLY! The first wedding I was in began at 11:00am, and I had to be at the hair dresser's place at 5:30am! I am NOT a morning person. I did it without complaining because I love my friend, but I hated the process. Then, they had the reception which lasted until 5pm, then afterparties at the parents' houses, then the guests still wanted us to come out and party the night away at a bar. We just looked at them like they had 5 heads and said "We're going to bed."