Wedding before/after Thanksgiving - New Year time

Planning anything around major holidays means you may have a higher rate of declines. Your guests may be in "save money" mode for travels and/or gifts.

I think you should definitely expect a higher decline rate.

Many, many families have holiday travel traditions that they put aside money for all year. Asking them to travel twice in such a short span of time is much more likely to cause them to decline your invitation rather than try to pull together enough money and time off of work to go somewhere twice in a month's time or less.

I don't think doing November 3rd would have much effect on the holidays and everyone might enjoy getting their mind off it temporarily for a good night out. Set your budget and find out what dates the venue will have available and then start planning from there. Congratulations!!

I wouldn't have a problem with it, and my birthday is on November 24th, which just happens to fall on Thanksgiving Day this year. So even with the holidays AND my birthday around the corner, I still wouldn't have a problem with it. I'm sure not all your guests would be like me, though.

It depends on who you are inviting. My family has lots of teachers and people that work retail. Teacher cant get of or less it is the holiday. In retail November and December are blocked for taking vacation. If it work for your people then do it.

I think you should be careful with planning during that time. Many people save their vacation time so that they can visit family for the holidays and/or for gifts. You may have a lot of declines. If it's possible I would try for the late January/February time that you mentioned. If it wasn't a destination wedding it may be different, but I'd reconsider for a date that isn't around the holidays.

We got married on 12/12 last year - the biggest date for holiday parties. We invited 140 had ~70 in attendance. But it was also a DW for all involved (3hour min drive)

Thank you all for your helpful advice! I think I am going to keep the date. I'm expecting a lot of declines just due to the fact that it is a destination wedding, if holiday's add to that then it looks like I'm having an intimate wedding I really think a lot of our friends will make a vacation out of it; or at least I hope they do!

A friend of mine told me I need to consider the weather as well. While Key West may be 80 degrees and sunny, where we live, DC, will be a snowy mess. She said the possibility of a snow storm is wayyyyy greater than a hurricane!

We're planning ours for the Saturday before Thanksgiving. November 18, 2017. No one's acted like it will be a problem. Then again, it's over a year away. I felt there wasn't any really great time for us. Spring break was too close to my brother and SIL, and she would have been irritated to share an anniversary with us. Summer is too hot and gross. Winter break risks being snowed out so the Saturday before Thanksgiving break worked best.

If your date works best for you and you're okay with potential declines due to the holiday season, then go for it.

FH and I are getting married this New Years eve. Our hotel block is almost completely booked already and most people seem really excited. That being said, most people we know don't have fabulous New Years Eve plans, so this is like a special reason for them to get dressed up fancy, get drunk, and dance.

Another thing to keep in mind, things cost more when you're booking during a holiday. Also, be prepared to put in extra effort when hosting your guests. They're giving up a holiday for you, so make it worth it.

@Alyssachu Sagittarius and Scorpio are legit the best signs, just sayin. lol

I think Nov 3rd is far enough away from holidays that you shouldn't experience much of an increase in declines from what you'd get from a DW in general. Maybe a few more.

What I think is more tricky is that your close friend is getting married a week before and you mention guests who would be invited to both. Do they also have to travel for your friends wedding? If so, hers came first, so don't be surprised if they couldn't then make it to yours.

Anytime you have a DW, you have to be ok with knowing that some (or many) guests won't come due to travel expenses. If you are fine with that, then proceed, and give plenty of advanced notice in the STDs.

I'm getting married November 19 and I only got one decline out of 60 invitations and not because of holiday but because they can't afford to come. People will say yes if they really care about you and your FH. Also my manager is getting married on January 1st and so far no one has decline. I mean you invite people who really matter in your life right?

@Unawarepandabear, you have the date I wanted! FH said he prefers the Friday so that our guests can have all of Saturday to explore Key West and hang out with us! It made sense to me after I thought about how much fun we could have going out with our guests for 2 nights!

My wedding is Nov 19th. One month from today and about 5 days before Thanksgiving. All of my guests have to travel 3 hours. We only had 25 declines.

I should add that is 25 people total. Most of which were kids of the parents who declined.

My wedding is also on Nov. 19th and we did get a few declines from out-of-town guests, but we thought it would be more of an issue than it has been. A lot of family were happy about the timing because they already have time off. But we did discuss the date beforehand with all of them, so we had a good sense of who would be able to come when we made the final call.

I would say the only thing that would worry be about November in Florida is hurricane season...something to think about at least, with all the crazy weather lately.

My wedding is mid-January and I am not finding any additional stress. I did do save the dates and am sending invitations out a little early as well to account for the holidays and trying to get my headcounts.

My wedding is 1/7/17 , just after the holidays. I figured it may be less stressful for some being that it is afterwards, and it was significantly cheaper than nov and dec at my venue.