friday wedding

[FLgirl41]

Ok I am slightly worried. Our event space may not be available for December 20th, 2008 a Saturday. But it is open December 19th, 2008.

Have any of you had a Friday wedding or been to a Friday wedding. If so was the guest turn out good or bad?

My mom and sister have me worried that no one will come to a friday wedding. My FI are not getting married in a church. We are getting married at the same place the reception is. Our venue is a public place so we wont even have the venue exclusively until 5pm. So I was thinking to have our ceremony around 5:30 or 6 ( a very short Ceremony, a few words said by some people our vows and we are done. I want to keep it as short as possible because my brother is getting ordained to marry us and I don''t want him to have to come up with something long.) Dinner imediately following and dance at 8:30 or 9 until 12.

Since we are having an evening ceremony do you think we will have a better turn out. I am just slightly worried about this. The venue is huge (320 dinner/dance) and we are anticipating half that. I am going to use space wisely so it looks better. But I am worried that if we go under 100 that it will look funny in the venue. I just really, really want this venue to work out. It is to gorgious to give up!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

We had a Friday wedding.

We originally planned to have the wedding on Martha''s Vineyard and the venue we wanted only had availabilty on a Friday. We utlimately decided that Martha''s Vineyard was too far for my family to travel and had it on the mainland, but the Friday stuck. The reason was because the majority of our guests were from out of town and I really wanted to give them Saturday to sight see.

A quick list of OUR pros and cons--

Pros:
1. Never had a problem booking a vendor--all of them were available on a Friday. This was good for us because we had a short enagement. Several vendors--musician, photographer, salon, JOP--were already booked for the following Saturday.
2. More room to negotiate. We negotiated $ off with many vendors because it was a Friday wedding. Our musician told us that he counts on Saturday weddings for his income, but Friday weddings are a "bonus" to him--if he can book one then he''s really happy, even if it means playing for a discounted rate. I think many vendors felt the same way.
3. This sounds bad, but for us it worked out because we had a VERY small wedding (fewer than 40) and having it on a Friday was a really good way of weeding out the people who didn''t really want to be there. Our ceremony was at 4:30, so it meant leaving work early, getting through rush hour traffic, etc.

Also, this didn''t apply to us because our wedding was in a private residence that we rented for a week, thus it didn''t really matter what day we held the wedding, but I think many venue offer deep discounts for Friday nights.

Cons:
1. Logistically more difficult for guests to attend--about four of our guests had to leave work early that day.
2. While I was thought a Friday wedding would be more friendly for our out-of-town guests (again, it left Saturday free for them to sight see, and they didn''t have to leave the morning after the wedding), it turned out to be a bigger pain because it meant they had to come in one day earlier to make the rehearsal dinner. My parents and siblings were staying with me for pretty much the whole week, so that was fine. But my aunts/uncles/cousins had to fly in Thurs. - Sun. instead of Fri. - Sun.
3. A few guests had to deal with rush hour traffic to make the RD and the wedding.

So basically the pros are that it gives you more flexibility and more negotiating room with vendors the cons are that it tends to be more difficult for guests to attend.

It worked out for us, but I think it mostly worked because our wedding was so small and 70% were staying on the premises with us, so we didn''t have many guests to think about and also, the weather on Friday was much, much better than it was on Saturday, so I really lucked out with that one.

Many do Friday weddings and it''s fine--there are defitely pros and cons to Friday and Saturday weddings.

 

[misysu2]

I think it ends up depending on your guests-- are most of them out of towners or locals? If locals, Friday probably won''t be a problem. If they will have to plan a roadtrip or fly in, a Friday wedding may become impossible for them to attend if they work M-F.

 

[FLgirl41]

A lot of our extended family is out of town (my entire family is out of town), but we do not anticipate them to come because none of my relatives have ever visitied Minnesota in the 24 years my family has lived there so I pretty sure none of the NY relatives will be there.

My FI and I live in FL and we are getting married during his winter break from school. So a lot of his freinds will have parted to their respectfuls states so we never anticipated a lot of them coming anways.

So basically a good chunk of the people live within a 2 and a half hour drive of the metro area in Minnesota. So I''d say it is 60% in-state and 40% out.

 

[Pandora II]

We were tempted with a Friday so that we could have 08/08/08, but my parents threw a total fit. All my relatives are doctors and so it''s nearly impossible for them all to get time off.

In the end, my venue didn''t have August available anyway, but I was surprised how many people raised objections.

 

[onedrop]

I was a BM in a Friday night wedding and I''d say most of those that were invited showed up. Don''t know exactly how many were invited but I don''t remember many empty seats. With you having 60% in state guests I think you''ll be fine. Just let people know in advance (if possible) that the wedding is on a Friday. I think people are getting more used to weddings occuring on days other than Saturday so I am sure a Friday wedding won''t be completely out of left field.

 

[Joy80]

We are having a Friday evening wedding at 6 o''clock and I''d say about 90% of our RSVPs have been in the attending pile and we invited about 150 people.

 

[Harleigh]

I actually think Friday evening weddings are great! If you''re not leaving for your honeymoon until Sunday or Monday, it will actually give you time to visit with some of your guests, especially those who travelled a long way to see you. I say, do it on a Friday and enjoy your extra time over the weekend with the people who love you!

 

[Haven]

I love Friday weddings, and I''m always baffled by people who care more about their jobs than attending the wedding of someone they love. But that''s just me . . .

 

[aquarius_ser]

I''m getting married Friday, Nov 2, 2007.... It was half the price!

 

[FLgirl41]

Ok thank you for the relief I was getting really worried. My FMIL yesterday was concerned about people being able to come on a Friday, but it seems by what everyone says that it isn''t that much of a difference.

But I think I would still prefer to have the wedding saturday. We will see. I will keep you all posted

 

[winternight]

I think it just depends on the jobs of your guests. Some jobs are easier to get out of then others. Then with higher pressure jobs, medicine, law, sometimes people enjoy themselves more if they have Friday to unwind. At least that''s my opinion. I haven''t been to a Friday wedding, but it would mean time off work for both me and my fiance and she''s he''s an attorney with billing requirements it would be like another added expense.

 

[FLgirl41]

Date: 10/15/2007 10:11:11 AM
Author:FLgirl41
Ok I am slightly worried. Our event space may not be available for December 20th, 2008 a Saturday. But it is open December 19th, 2008.

UPDATE!!!!!

I got the 20th. No more worries about a Friday wedding!!! I got word today that Saturday December 20, 2008 opened up and that we have it held!!!!! I am so excited. Everything seems to be turning out!

 

[MoonWater]

I want a Friday wedding, mainly becuz the date is significant. I thought of having a private ceremony on Friday, so that it is the official anniversary date, and having a reception for all on the following Saturday.