Poll-would you rather...

[Hudson_Hawk]

Would you rather attend a wedding on the Friday or Sunday night of Memorial Day weekend?

 

[door knob solitaire]

I shouldn''t have voted...we don''t do anything that holiday but stay home and safe. I answered Friday thinking of others instead of me...I WOULD PREFER SUNDAY...but again Monday means nothing to me as far as a vacation day.

Do you have a lot of Out of town guests? What about weekend warriors as guests? Will this be the first holiday for the majority of you guests? If so...I would think Friday so they could use the rest of the time as they planned. But for the Out of towners...travel will be terrible so they would have to plan to arrive Thursday or Wednesday.

So if a lot of flying, Sunday night would be better as the rush should be over.

That is a toughie.

Hope the poll helps you.

DKS

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Everyone except FI and I, will be traveling 3-5 hours for the wedding.

 

[janinegirly]

to be honest, if we were invited to a weddnig memorial weekend, we would decline. (unless it was a family member or extremely close friend). It''s a lot to ask guests to give up a long weekend and on the east coast, most head to the beach to kick off the summer season. not to mention travel headaches, inflated prices for long wekend travel.

so i''m afraid in my case, both days would be undesireable..so i guess, to put a more positive spin on it..either one!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Only one couple will be coming from the west coast (my brother and MOH), everyone else is "local" (New England). The wedding IS at the beach so it''s not like they''re going to be stuck somewhere where they can''t enjoy themselves.

The problem is, we can''t afford to do a Saturday night wedding at this location. So unless we do it on a long weekend, people will have to take time off to come, either on Friday for a Friday night wedding or they''ll have to drive back late Sunday night for work on Monday or take Monday off to travel home. FI and I are from 10 hours apart, we live between both families, so it makes sense to have it near us.

 

[blondie23]

We''re having our ceremony on Sunday of Memorial day. We''re having a smaller wedding (75 people) and before we decided on the date we spoke to those that would require travelling and they all said that they would love to attend so we decided to go for it. Honestly, I say do what is best for you and if that means over Memorial Day then so be it. you can''t please everyone. I''m sure someone will have a problem with the date but if you picked another date it could cause problems with other people. My vote, it''s your wedding do what you want!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Oh, and it''s Memorial Day weekend of 2009, so people would have ample time to make travel arrangements etc.

 

[Independent Gal]

If it IS at the beach, make it Sunday. Then people can plan a fun weekend around it!

Of course, I''m biased cause our wedding is on a Sunday too!

 

[littlelysser]

Argh. It ate my post.

Moral of the story - Sunday is better, IMHO. Folks don''t need to take off work to attend..if people are driving 3-5 hours, they''ll need to take Friday off too...whereas a Sunday wedding gives them time to drive home on Monday.

I got married over labor day weekend. On Saturday.

And for what it is worth, you should be prepared for at least a few people to comment that they aren''t thrilled about giving up their memorial day for your wedding. Which to me seems entirely selfish and rude, but I experienced it.

One of my friends made a big deal about giving up his labor day, the traffic, etc...and I pretty much told him that if he viewed it as that much of a hassle, he REALLY didn''t need to come. The way I see it, if people would rather spend the weekend at the beach than with my FI (now DH) and I when we got celebrated our wedding, well, I don''t want them there anyway...

And for the record, he and his wife both ended up coming and had a great time.

Apparently this is still a sore spot for me.

 

[saltymuffin]

Assuming that monday is the holiday (sorry I am not American!) Sunday for sure. It allows for the maximum travel time. Friday is really tough on travellers, or even people who had to work that day. Sunday allows people to arrive friday evening or Saturday, and allows them to use the Monday to get back home.

Ignore anyone who complains about "giving up" their long weekend for your wedding! I think having it on a long weekend is actually thoughtful, as it gives people the extra travel time without having to take time off work. If their day on the beach is more important than your wedding, you don''t need them there.

 

[door knob solitaire]

Ah for those of you not living here in America...

Memorial Day (read about here) was created for us as a way to pay tribute and remember our fallen heroes...in war time etc. It is now a minute phase of the holiday as it is now the first celebrated 3 day weekend on the calendar. Many businesses here close on the Friday before early if not completely...and usually don''t open until Tuesday of the week. Then that week is only a four day week as well...and it is looked upon as a relaxing shortened work period...filled with gatherings, fireworks, outdoor grilling, outdoor activities accented in Red White and Blue colors and symbols of flags, stars, etc. Tons of ice chests are filled with beverage and snacks and there are certain things first eaten on Memorial day. Watermelons, tomato, hot dogs, burgers...picnics parks are all full...all things outdoors.

The highways are full and lots of people try to get somewhere where your swimsuit can be used/shown off. Lakes, rivers, beaches...are usually the preferred destinations.

Because of this many people arrange and schedule flight reservations, hotel accommodations, car rentals, etc way ahead of time. That is the quandary HH is under. Knowing Americans love their first summer holiday and treat it as if it were precious as gold...leaves her with a dilemma.

Many still respect it''s origin and take flowers and flags and decorate the cemeteries where are fallen lay in rest. It is an awesome sight to see the flags rows and rows and rows. You may have seen images of this very thing. There are many prize winning photographs shown all over the world of our flags as far as the eye can see.

Hope that helps those of you reading from a far off land...

DKS

 

[anchor31]

That''s interesting. In Canada, we celebrate Armistice Day around November 11th.

About the question, if I had to travel 3-5 hours to get to a wedding, I''d prefer it was Sunday. Then again, I guess I''m not that accomodating myself, since we''re getting married on a Saturday at 11AM and 1/4 of the people on our list have over 6 hours to drive and 1/3 have over 2 hours... The rest have about an hour, only my parents are locals. Ah well, I guess I don''t really want to see a lot of people there, don''t I?

I''m just half-kidding here, I guess I just mean to say that you should do whatever you feel is best for you. If people don''t want to come, it''s their loss.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I rather go to a sunday wedding (on a holiday weekend). A majority of people will have that monday off vs. having to take off work early or take it off all together on friday. Also this way you can have your RD on sat. vs. thursday (then people would have to taken even more time off)

 

[aljdewey]

I''d go Sunday night - it allows the greatest flexibility for travel (can leave off-hours on Fri. evening, early Sat am or anytime sat., and return can be early or mid-day monday).

And a hearty DITTO to previous comments. Memorial Day is an *annual* occurrence, and it''s not the only 3-day weekend of the year either---there are at least 3 (Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day) even for companies that don''t observe the more ''minor'' holidays. Your wedding isn''t an annual occurrence.

Those who actually view it as some kind of ''sacrifice'' to attend? Good riddance.....it''s a fabulous way of limiting your precious wedding budget to those who are worthy.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I would have LOVED to reserve the venue for Sunday night, but the person who was penciled in has decided to place their deposit. So we''re going to go with Friday night.