Sunday afternoon or evening wedding?

[peonygirl]

Oy vey! We were set on a Sunday afternoon wedding at 11, but our site just offered to lower the original night minimum if we did it at 4pm on Sunday. So now it would only be about 2K more if we had an evening wedding. On one hand, it would be great not to wake up at 5am and most guests wouldn''t be inconvenienced because 90-95% are out of town so they would be leaving on Monday anyway. Additionally, if the wedding starts at 4, we could have the ballroom until 10 so our reception would be 1 hr longer than if we had an afternoon wedding.

On the other hand, my DF and I are students so 2K isn''t nothing (we are basically splitting the wedding 4 ways w/ our parents so most of it''s taken care of though). Also, the venue has this really cool lighting system where they can make it look dark and romantic at the reception, so even if it''s in the afternoon the reception would still feel like night.

I have just been to *so* few weddings that I can''t figure out which would be better! I also can''t figure out whether I would be bummed out if my wedding was over way before the day was over, or if it would be great because I could spend the rest of the day alone with my new husband. Hmmmm.

By the way, the wedding is on a Sunday because we''re Jewish and our rabbi won''t officiate a Sat night wedding starting earlier than 1.5 hrs after sundown, which would be ridiculously late in the summertime.

 

[diamondfan]

I got married on a Sunday at 6:00 pm in August. I wanted Saturday but the hotel was booked for months ahead for one, so I took Sunday. It was lovely, and it kept the temperature from being horrendous..the ceremony and cocktails were outside, so that mattered to me. I was happy with it, liked the eveing unfolding, so if you can do it, I think it would be great! Good luck...PS I am SO not a morning person, so I totally get it, and loved having the day to get ready..we are also Jewish, but not that observant, so timing on the Sat would not have mattered that much...

 

[San Diego Bride]

this is obviously a personal decision and either one would be great, but since you asked for opinions...

i''d stick with the morning wedding. i''m getting married on a saturday morning (11am). the idea definitely took some getting used to. i had envisioned sleeping in, having a late morning spa day with my maid of honor before the wedding and watching the sunset from the reception (la valencia in la jolla) with my guests. but, alas, there was the evening minimum to deal with so we decided to have an early wedding. while i was originally a little disappointed i''m looking forward to it now. i won''t have such a leisurely morning, but i will have more time with my new husband that evening. we''ll be able to spend some time alone together after the reception and then meet up with friends afterwards. we''ll still be able to see the sunset, but it will be from our honeymoon suite while enjoying champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries. we''re looking forward to enjoying the honeymoon suite. if we had an evening wedding we''d basically just go back to the room and crash then leave the next morning for our post-wedding bruch. this will work out well for us. hopefully the early time slot would work for you as well. $2000 seems like a lot of money for a little bit more sleep.

 

[ladykemma]

i vote for 4 pm. people have to go to work the next day.

edited - I'm confused. are the choices 11 am, 4 pm, or sunday evening?

 

[peonygirl]

ladykemma, the choices are both on a Sunday; 11am-4pm or 4pm-10pm. Out of 130 guests, only about 6-7 people would be going to work the next day because the vast majority are from the opposite coast so they wouldn''t get back in time either way. Those people are all my mom''s friends, so I would be okay with it if they left an hr to two early that night.

 

[flopkins]

personally? I''d go for 4 PM. Just becaue I''m a lazy booger and hate getting up early. The night before my wedding I couldn''t sleep hardly, I know that if I had to be ready for an 11AM service I woulda been a zombie!!!

Plus, I just like the evening, it feels more formal... just my taste though, what does your FI think?

 

[ladykemma]

tightwad that I am I''d go for the 11am. cheaper, and cheaper still becuase you will feed them lunch instead of dinner.

 

[JCJD]

I''d vote for 11am. $2K is a lot for a couple hours of sleep, as someone already said. Plus, not only will the venue cost go up, your catering cost will increase (dinner instead of lunch), decorations may become more elaborate, aka expensive, if you''re having a DJ you have to pay for another hour of music, ditto for photogs and video. Since you''re seriously considering this change, I''ll assume you don''t have programs or invitations to reorder with the correct time. Also, you can *ahem* get to bed earlier with an earlier wedding.

 

[peonygirl]

I should clarify that the 2K difference is including dinner vs. lunch menu. Our DJ has a minimum time that we''re already under, so there''d be no extra fee for that. We won''t have the videographer or photographer there the whole time (I think they''re leaving soon after cake cutting), so that wouldn''t be any additional cost.

 

[FireGoddess]

I had my wedding on a Sunday evening. It was great and people stayed quite late, actually. I was also a BM in a friend''s wedding that was on a Sunday morning...and I was SHOCKED how many people left the reception early....we''re talking nearly empty by 2 pm, when the wedding wasn''t over till 4pm! I was bowled over. I guess people wanted to salvage half of the day to do other things? Anyway, one might think the morning reception is more convenient, but what I saw at my friend''s wedding made me rethink it and see that people may just leave early to salvage half a day for themselves. Something to think about.

 

[ivanadiamond]

If you can swing the extra 2k then my vote would be for 4:00 PM. I have gone to a few Sunday evening weddings even when I had to work the next day and we didn''t mind.

 

[larussel03]

I would vote evening as well, since you said you are really not inconvienancing your guests by having it on a Sun morning since most will be from out of town. That way you dont have to get up at 5am to get everything going.

 

[JCJD]

Date: 8/1/2006 6:43:03 PM
Author: FireGoddess
I had my wedding on a Sunday evening. It was great and people stayed quite late, actually. I was also a BM in a friend''s wedding that was on a Sunday morning...and I was SHOCKED how many people left the reception early....we''re talking nearly empty by 2 pm, when the wedding wasn''t over till 4pm! I was bowled over. I guess people wanted to salvage half of the day to do other things? Anyway, one might think the morning reception is more convenient, but what I saw at my friend''s wedding made me rethink it and see that people may just leave early to salvage half a day for themselves. Something to think about.

FG, I was in a wedding last month on a Sunday evening (6pm ceremony), and granted, they didn''t serve alcohol (FOB tends to overdrink.....), but by 10pm it was mostly family and wedding party left. I was at another wedding a couple years ago that was a Sunday afternoon (2-ish) with a cake and punch reception in the fellowship hall on a hot day in July with no air conditioning in the church except for in the sanctuary, and lots of people were still at the reception when I left at 6pm. I think it just depends on a lot of different factors.


peonygirl - that''s good to know about the costs, because those sorts of things can add up really quickly if you''re not watching for them. I would think about what else you''d want to change for the wedding if you were to move it from 11 to 4 and see what feels better for you, provided you can afford the extra money.

 

[monarch64]

Peony, I think I may have responded to this question of yours before, but again I will say that we were married on a Sunday at 12:30 p.m., ceremony and reception site the same place. Yes, we did it because the location I fell in love with was one we couldn''t afford on a Friday or Saturday night. We received soooo many compliments on how "different" our wedding was, and how much people enjoyed that aspect. I think if you went with the 4 p.m. plan, your bar tab might be a little cheaper...not as many people ( I would think) would tend to imbibe as much as on a Saturday night or even Sunday afternoon knowing they had to get up early the next a.m....

As far as OOT guests, most of ours made plans in advance to stay in town an extra day or take a later flight, and some of them did leave a little early from the reception. We really never heard anything negative about it. I think people understood our circumstances and cared enough about us to sacrifice just a wee bit of their time either way.

 

[ellaila]

Hi,

We are having a Sunday early-evening wedding this September -- ceremony begins at 5:00. To me, that gives people the day to get ready (including me!) and plenty of time to get there. I also just personally prefer the feel of an evening wedding -- it seems more elegant to me.

The only problem that we''ve run into so far is that a few people haven''t been able to find babysitters for that night because it''s a school night. Didn''t think about that!