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I would think it rude to assume that I, a guest, would want to spend my holiday weekend at your wedding. I think it is asking too much. We're not talking President's Day here, July 4th is a biggie.
I think it's going to add a lot of complications to your wedding and result in a lot of guests not coming.
Everything is going to be more expensive, including airfare, hotels, and likely all of your wedding vendors.
It could be really entertaining theme wise, but a lot of people want to spend Independance Day at family barbeques. I'd maybe ask some of your guests what they think?
The lady who is helping me plan my wedding (a friend of my mom) is planning a wedding for her daughter on 4th of July weekend 2009. If you email me with a copy of your post, I can forward it to her and ask her to give you some advice on how she is making it work and how people have perceived it. My email is jessicamarie725@gmail.com
Personally speaking, in my family we don't have a yearly family tradition, so I think it would be fun to try something new and to celebrate the beginning of a marriage with family/friends.
I have a feeling you are going to get mixed reactions on this depending on individual families.
We only have 2 weekends to choose from for our wedding due to my FI's work schedule and another friends wedding. One of the dates was July 5th. This so happens to be my parents 40th anniversary as well. When talking to our wedding party and friends about the dates, they were more than excited to do the weekend of the 4th of July. Since we normally get together with a lot of them and have a party anyways, people thought it was great to celebrate our wedding then.
We didn't run into any vendor price hikes, but that was one of my first questions to them since another friend got married on this day last year and experienced that.
We have ultimatly decided to have it on June 28th instead (well, we think so at least. Our location is still not set). We didn't want to have our guests and wedding party have to pay more to get there (oh, it's a destination wedding, btw) and to stay. Plus, the place we are having it is a hot spot for vacations at that time. We figured the weekend before would be less crowded and give us some more privacy.
But talk to your bridal party, family and some guests. Would they be annoyed to travel to your wedding on that weekend or would they see it as something very fun? Ultimatly, it's up to you and your FI. If you are set on having fireworks at your rehersal dinner (aww!), then do it! The more I think about it, the more I am reconsidering my choice!!! Good luck! 
I agree with the other posts, the hotels and airfare will be more expensive, and a lot of people will not go because they have to work or make other plans,some people can't take a Monday off. Usually people know what they are going to do for July 4th well in advance, if you do it spread the word so they aren't conflicted with their plans, that is considerate and then you will get an idea of who can go. If your not afraid of people not going because of cost, time off, and other plans then I would still keep into consideration. Or do it a different weekend.
Could you do it on another holiday weekend that people might still have off but that people also normally wouldn't already have big plans for? Mine is next weekend (OMG), Columbus Day weekend, which I chose because many guests would have Monday off, meaning one less work vacation day they would have to use. Because it is a less celebrated holiday, airfares were not hiked. We took care of the hotel issue by renting beach houses for everyone, but you could accomplish the same cost-savings by arranging a discount block of hotel rooms.
PS - It's your <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic">wedding. If people are really all that annoyed about having to give up a barbeque in order to lend you their emotional support on one of the most important days of your life, then those probably are not the kind of people you want there anyway.
My family never does anything interesting on the 4th of July. I would go to a wedding on the July 4th weekend, absolutely.
Some of the above posters seem to be objecting not only because it's the day after a holiday but because the 5th is a Sunday (i.e., people having to take Monday off). Is there a reason why you're not having it on the 4th so as to have it on a Saturday? If people are already traveling on that day they may as well celebrate with you too. If you did then people might not have to take off any work at all because they would already have the 3rd off for traveling.
The 4th of July is a popular holiday, but I don't think it compares to Thanksgiving or Christmas (or whatever religious holiday you celebrate) in terms of how much importance most (not all, obviously) people attribute to their plans. From a cursory search on kayak.com about airfare, the rates for say, DC to Atlanta (a route I fly a lot) is the same for the July 4th weekend as for the weekend following (an unremarkable weekend, for example). So no fare differences there yet.
I went to a July 4th weekend wedding last year. The wedding was the day after on Saturday and there was also a family reunion incorporated into it. The main troubles were crazy amounts of traffic (we drove from So.Cal to Nor Cal b/c airfare was expensive) and we never really celebrated the 4th of July. However, I did not think that is was that big of deal for 1 holiday weekend. We missed some parties but it was okay. I agree that tougher thing may be taking that Monday off since a lot of people probably will have that Friday off and companies may not want to allow another day.
Maybe you could do a big welcome BBQ on the 4th? Then it gives people an extra excuse to take the time off and everyone can celebrate the holiday together in anticipation of the big day.
My wedding is the Sunday of Labor Day weekend but people already have that Monday off. We know that travel may be more expensive but we are turning into a weekend of events so that we can spend more quality time with friends and family.
I hate to disagree but prices for flights and such will not be any higher on July 4th weekend than they would be for any other summer weekend. People tend to travel by car more for that weekend and stay local for thier city's fireworks display. It is not a hot travel weekend like Christmas or Thanksgiving. People may miss a BBQ but for a wedding that's not a big thing to ask. Just find a place that has Fireworks in the area for the 4th so that people don't miss out on that. (Although they don't necessarily do them on the 4th in many towns.)
Also, even if it was an expensive travel holiday, flights the day of the holiday are often the cheapest of the weekend so if people traveled on the 4th they can still see the fireworks and be there on Sunday for the wedding. And when everyone is flying out on Sunday they are partying away and travel on the less buy Monday.
I know several people who have gone to weddings on the 4th or near the 4th and the only complaint seems to be that they might miss fireworks.
As for taking an extra day from work to travel that isn't a huge deal either. Don't most destination weddings call for that? If your wedding is on a regular Saturday (no holiday time off) then it is frequently necessary to take Friday off for travel. You just get Sunday to recover and travel before heading back to work. This way it's just Monday that you have off and travel.
My girlfriend just got married this year on July 5th. (Click here to read about it) and it was perfectly fine. With enough planning i actually got a decent fare (IAD-LAX for about 300) and I made a trip of it. She thought the holiday would make it easier, and in fact it can make it harder b/c sometimes fares are higher, but i just kept my eye on the flight market and snatched a deal when i found it. Any date works with enough notice...
i don't think getting married on July 4 weekend is a problem, but I do think that people will be a bit annoyed that you aren't getting married on that Friday or Saturday, so as to make travelling a bit more convenient. i work in a corporate environment and i have always found that the monday right after a long weekend or vacation is always the busiest, and therefore the least desirable day to take off.
if you are going to have your wedding on July 5, i would recommend doing a daytime wedding that concludes in the late afternoon / early evening so that people can still catch the last flight back home. i had a sunday wedding from 11 - 4, and all our OOT guests who couldn't take Monday off were able to catch flights back home Sunday night.
Yes, fares are higher. And flights book up earlier, as well as hotels. While it's true that it's not as bad as Thanksgiving or Christmas, it is a holiday. And so people will either have no plans, or will have an annual tradition. I'm in the group that generally thinks it's kind of rude for you to presume that I would give up my plans for the whole holiday weekend to spend the afternoon or evening at your event. My sister, on the other hand, is in the group that habitually plans everything for a holiday, on the theory that if you really want to come, it will be easier as you'll already have a couple of days off. So I sort of understand. As long as you're not going to get upset because people can't or won't give up plans they already had, having a holiday wedding is just fine. I think this kind of thing has a bigger impact on your guests with children. While it's not such a big deal for DH and I to do something different just this time, it does tend to be a big disappointment for his kids, who have generally been looking forward to what we usually do. And your guests with kids will reasonably often vote to disappoint you rather than the kids, if only because you are adults, and can presumably handle it better.
My fiance and I are having our wedding on July 3rd, 2009. We've heard nothing but great things from guests who are excited to spend that day/holiday weekend with us. One of my FH's good friends said she went to a July 4th wedding before and had a BLAST! You can please the July 4th party crowd with sparklers/fireworks, bonfires, good music and a really good party atmosphere. I wouldn't worry about anyone finding it rude or inconvenient.
We're definitely sending out STD's to give our guests a heads-up. As far as I know, neither of our families really plans a huge July 4th blow-out anyhow, so we won't be intruding on any pre-planned events.
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Hi all,
Because of a lot of complicated scheduling issues, we are contemplating a July 5 wedding.
Most of our guests will be traveling from the Midwest and East Coast for our wedding, so we aren't sure if this date is inconsiderate. Most people would have to take Monday, July 6 off to travel back...but then again, most of them get Friday, July 3 off, so it might be kinda nice to have a forced longer weekend??
We just aren't sure if airfare and hotels are going to be more expensive and secretly all of our guests will hate us?
Any thoughts on getting married July 4 weekend???