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we had one! it was perfect.. we got such a BIG discount! We also had our engagement party (which was also at a hotel) on a Sunday -- but both of these were around holidays. The wedding was Jan. 2 and the engagement party was May 25 -- memorial day weekend. The reason being is that people had days off so going to a Friday wedding wasn't a big deal. And we got bigger discounts for that as well.
I don't think Friday weddings are bad because even if people have work, they can call off, or just make the wedding start a little later (if you can) to accomodate.
We considered it but we found another venue that was less for a Saturday than the Friday night rate of a few other places.
I think in certain circumstances they can work. Just be mindful that if you are asking guests to travel out of town for a Friday wedding, they have to miss work in order to attend your wedding...ie, it could be a financial hardship on your guests.
I wish "other" was an option, because I am having a Sat wedding (and obviously prefer Sat), but my parents are paying for it and THEY prefer Sat and would never let me get married on a Friday.
That being said, I think having a Friday wedding is a great idea! Even though it's a little inconvenient, you save a TON of money AND people get to have the rest of the weekend to themselves. If I had to choose between Friday and Sunday I would def go with Friday (but there are obvious advantages to a Sunday wedding too).
The only thing that makes me mad (about OTHER guests) is when people skip the ceremony for a Friday wedding b/c they don't want to leave work early. That happened to one of my friends - at the ceremony I remember thinking "They must be having a very small wedding!" because there were only about 80 people at the 5:00pm ceremony. Um.. 250 people came to the 7:00pm reception. It made me mad and I hope that doesn't happen to anyone here!
We're having a Friday night wedding, it just seems to be the best day for us. We get a discount on a lot of our expenses, which was important for our tight budget. However, we did run it past many of our guests before deciding on the day (our guest list is 100 75-80 of which is family). FI's cousin is getting married on a Friday as well and it just makes more sense economically for them. I know that it can seem inconvient to the guests but I think with early STDs and a heads up to everyone people can take a vacation day or sick day and have a nice 3 day weekend.
We're having a Friday wedding as well. About 30% of the weddings we've been to are Friday night, so I don't think that it's nearly as unusal as others may. We didn't really have a preference going in, but ended up with a Friday simply because it was the only September date available at the venue we liked (outside of 9/11, which living in NYC, isn't really appealing).
When we thought about it our guests fell into three groups:
- they are local, and like us, don't mind taking a day (or afternoon) off for a Friday night wedding
- they are coming from far enough away, that they would end up taking days off regardless of what day the wedding was so that they could enjoy the local area
- they are retired...and every day is saturday!
ive been to friday weddings and it depends. is your ceremony at 4:30 pm? then id be pissy as a guest. are a ton of people flying/traveling to be there? then id be pissy as a guest.
if most people are local and you plan to start at a reasonable time (after rush hour), then its no biggie. more and more weddings are taking place on days besides saturday. from my understanding, its the norm in nyc to have wed and thurs weddings.
My friend had hers on a Friday last year and it was amazing! She had it at the Biltmore Hotel in LA and saved SOOO much money. There were a lot of people at the church and the reception.
I'm having mine on a Friday also. I have found it easier to book vendors such as the photographer and videographer. Vendors have been available on my date! I also feel that I can procrastinate a little and wait last minute to book, because I'm hoping to get discounts.
If guests don't want to take the time off for the wedding, then, I don't feel it's worth it for them to be there anyway. We'll see what happens!
I've never been to a Friday night wedding. From an outsiders view, I think it sounds like a big inconvenience for guests and not worth the cost savings.
I would have loved to have a friday wedding because there are so much savings. However it wouldn't really work for us since 90% of our guests are from OOT.
I did look into it and the savings was amazing. I could have gotten much more for a lot less.
I wouldn't mind attending a friday wedding either, as long as it is in the evening like after 6 or 7 p.m. That would allow time to get ready after work. However if it were OOT for me, that may not work out, unless I could take off work.
I think it's worth it for the people paying for the wedding, but as a guest it is kind of annoying, and as a member of the bridal party or a groomsman it's even worse bc you've got to take two days off for that. But budgets are budgets and people can do what they can do. As a guest, if I couldn't take the time off work I'd just RSVP in the negative, send a small gift, and leave it at that. I'd never complain to the bride and groom, though.
@july09bridetobe Cost savings are more than just for the bride and groom. It's cheaper and a little less hectic to travel mid-week for guests as well. Just something I've heard from other guests that have attended/participated in Friday night weddings
I had a friday wedding that started at 2pm and ended at around 6pm. And everything went off without a hitch. All of the guests that I had really wanted to be there were able to come. They didn't mind taking the day off of work to come out (most of my family drove down to san diego from the bay area...and no pissy guests. Just a little tired). And I was able to save tons of money by having a Friday wedding. If you're worried about guest conveniences, those that really have the heart to be there on your big day will make it work.
I'm having one .. saved us quite a bit. No minimum.. extras. So far everyone doesn't seem to have an issue and are already inquiring about hotels in the area. Our venue is about an hour and a half from my family, his family and our friends.
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my friday wedding ceremony begins at 7pm, so guests will have plenty of time to get to our location after work. we are also having the ceremony and reception in the same location to minimize travel time. and we intend to have only about 15 min between the ceremony & reception so that everyone can sit down & eat (since it will be about 7:45pm by the time we get to that point). we're saving $1,000 by having it on a friday instead of a saturday and no one in our families has had anything bad to say about our choice. we also have only a few out of town guests and they would likely have to take a day off work to travel to our wedding even if we had it on a saturday. i say go for it.
AND...i'm going to a wedding tomorrow -- 7/3/09 -- and that's a friday, too. they are are becoming more & more popular!
My FBIL and his wife had a Friday wedding last year. We actually ended up taking two days off to be there for the rehearsal and the wedding. I think it's a great idea if you have a lot of local guests and out of towners who don't mind taking a day off. Go for it. If it makes you feel better I went to a Monday wedding last year (and it wasn't local nor was it a holiday....just don't tell my bosses).
I have to take issue with the posters who suggest guests who "don't want to leave early from work" or show up for the later reception and not the 4 or 5 pm ceremony "don't care enough." As someone who is planning her own wedding, has 4 close friends getting married this year and limited vacation days from work, it's HARD to get to a Friday night wedding! There may be some inconsiderate guests who only show up for the reception because it is free food, but more likely it's the fact that people's lives can't simply stop because someone else is getting married! One of my BMs may have to back out last minute from my wedding, and will certainly have to leave before the end of the reception for work obligations. Sure I'll be disappointed, but good lord, she has to do what she has to do! No use stressing about it... All right, off on a bit of a tangent there. In closing, I'd rather go to an afternoon Sunday wedding than a Friday night one.
I've never been to a Friday night wedding, but if I was invited to one, it'd depend on what time it was and how far away it is. I don't get very much vacation time and most of it is spoken for for trips waaaaay in advance. It would really depend for me on how close I was to the people having it. We considered a Friday night wedding to save money, but my FI's entire side lives about 1.5 hours away and there was just no way we felt like we could get them all there in time after work and have it be stress-free for everyone involved.
After seeing the savings we did begin to consider a friday night wedding. However, we decided we'd only have one if it's handy for the guests. Since there are 2 major metropolitan areas (Baltimore and DC) and several of our guests live/work in those cities or between - we really think we've lucked out. With the exception of the English guests the vast majority of our guests are local and the wedding will be held smack in the middle of the two cities.
The only downer is that public transportation isn't avaiable, but by having it in betwen this saves each half from having to go all the way to the other city. The ceremony is also later, so you coudl still leave work at 5, change and get to the wedding on time.
We're having a friday evening wedding. We chose a friday because it saved us a lot of money. It literally halved the price of our venue. I'm hoping that we don't inconvenience too many people. We briefly considered doing a Sunday wedding, but decided against it because we wanted people to be able to have a good time without worrying about work the next day.
To hopefuly make it easier on our guests, we're having the ceremony at 6 and sending out save the dates (with the time of the ceremony on printed on them). Also, the ceremony and the reception are at the same venue, so we won't have to worry about travel time (wasting time) as it will already be so late. We'll be able to get right into the party! We're also planning on getting pictures taken together before the actual ceremony so the guests don't have to wait for dinner/dancing. It's already going to be a late dinner, so I don't want to starve them :). I also want to be able to be at the cocktail hour to mingle with everyone. Most of our guests live in the area, and the OOT ones will probably already be in town, so hopefully eveything works out.
We're having one and not only did we save at our venue, BUT all of our vendors offered between 10-15% discounts because we were hiring them for their 'slower' night! None of our guests have had a problem with attending, for them it's an excuse to skip out of work early on a Friday. Just have a later ceremony, ours is at 4:30pm.
I just know that I use my weekends to attend weddings or out of town events. At my place of work, our pdo's are burned through (because we have to leave early if we have a lower patient ratio) and I don't want to have to waste what is left of my vacation time.
Sorry about that, but I wouldn't be too enthusiastic about a Friday or Sunday (evening) wedding. If it were later in the day or evening and within driving distance on a Friday, I would be ok though.
Im not doing it but now a days anything can work.. we are having our wedding on a Sunday :( i also really wanted a saturday but we let our close family and friends know we are having it on a sunday so take Monday off or ask to go to work late because we plan to party :)
We're having a Friday wedding, purely for budget reasons. I know it's a bit inconvenient for some of our guests, and I know that our acceptance rate will be much lower than it would be on a Saturday, but we understand that and are okay with it!
I definitely think Saturday would be preferable, but in my situation it just wasn't going to be possible!
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How do you feel about a Friday [or non Saturday wedding]? Have you been to one?
The more my FI and I research venues, the more we're realizing that Fridays have lower minimums and extra add-ons tossed in for free. I never would have dreamt of having one, but in this economy, it's looking more and more desirable. Our budget is pretty limited and our families big so it feels like this would be a good way to keep it manageable.
What do you all think?