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I attended a Sunday afternoon wedding this summer (started at 4pm with ceremony) and most people left right after dinner, I'd estimate around 7:30pm-8:00pm. Not sure what can be done since most folks don't really want to "party" with work the next day.
The best thing to do is maximize the time you have with your guests like taking your photos before the ceremony and just generally starting things on time.
Good luck!
I just got back from a Sunday wedding this weekend. It was great, but we did opt to leave earlier than usual. And our whole table left before we did. Early trains, flights back the next morning. My FI had to get to work by noon on Monday (yesterday). It's a little more difficult for the guests, but those who want to will come.
We had a Sunday wedding and only a few people had to leave early. Almost everyone took at least Monday morning off (although a few did leave at 6am), which was easier for them since most didn't arrive until Saturday.
However, we took the opportunity to have a 3-day affair-- fancy dinner with just the families on Friday night, spa/friends/lunch/frisbee golf during the day on Saturday, big casual party on Saturday night and the rehearsal Sunday morning and ceremony/reception Sunday night. It was a wonderful weekend and I think our families appreciated being able to spend so much time together. Oh, and everyone stayed in the same hotel, so socializing was very easy.
My sister's wedding is October 7th...a Sunday night! The next day is actually Columbus Day and our families are full of teachers, so many of them get the next day off. Anyone who doesn't is taking the day off work because the wedding will start at 3 and have the reception from 5-12 with full of dancing and drinking, etc. which I think is a little less atypical for a Sunday night affair. She has very few out of town guests, though, so a couple of my uncles will be going back to work the next day even after a late-night of wedding celebrating. She's in the Chicago area, which is a bit pricey (at least compared to my downstate IL wedding) but having it on a Sunday night is really decreasing the price.
All that said, her RSVPs are due back this Friday, though, and she's been disappointed with the number of declines. They were expecting about 240 (of almost entirely family) but their number is around 150 right now with only about 17 RSVP cards still out. She's thinking she'll probably end up inviting some of her work friends she wasn't able to invite before. I imagine the Sunday night date probably has something to do with the low guest count, but who knows!
One thing to think about as far as booking hotels...instead of actually booking hotels for out-of-towners, why don't you try and get a block of rooms reserved? A good hotel contract should never make you liable for any that aren't reserved, and they'll usually give you a discount if you're promising a decent sized number of rooms to be booked. Good luck!
We're planning a Sunday wedding because it's much cheaper. It will also be on a holiday weekend, so I'm hoping that it will be a big party weekend. I'd start the ceremony as early as you can. We didn't stay at my friend's wedding to see the couple off, but many people did stay until 9. And it was the people who were really close with the couple. So even if people leave, it's probably not going to be the people you want to be there most.
I recently went to a Sunday day/evening wedding, and it was just awful. Of course, this is because the couple chose a location 1-2 hours away from EVERYONE. No one lived nearby, the couple just really liked the site.
Most people couldn't really enjoy themselves due to the time, as most of us had work the next morning, and we already knew we had a long drive back. For us, there was no way we could take Monday off, either.
I think things would have gone better had it been local, though. And if they didn't take their sweet time getting back after the hours of pictures after the ceremony!
I just wanted to chime in and say that if people don't come or have to leave early, it's not a reflection on how much they care about you. Many people don't have that much vacation time or have work responsibilites. I don't think it's fair to generalize like that.
I second what chrissie says, the time people stay at your reception doesn't equate to how much they care.
I have been to several Sunday night weddings, most of them Jewish. Most of the guests stayed for the full night! I just went to one Sunday wedding a few weekends ago and the party only stopped because the couple had only booked the room till midnight.
My wedding will be on a Sunday too. I'm not really sweating it, because I figure out of town people would take a day or two off no matter what day it's on. Local people I'm not so sure - but I'm just not worried about it.
I am getting married on Sunday, October 7th as well. I purposely picked it because of Columbus Day weekend with the hope of being able to try to accommodate the half of the guest list travelling from the East to the West coast (and the teachers in the house). Sunday was largely a budgetary reason (I'd never have been able to afford the number of people or the venue for Saturday and the venue/people was more important to me than the day) although since we knew no matter what we were doing that half of our list was travelling we decided to make it a bit of a destination (Palm Springs) - with the hopes of people being able to take time to enjoy themselves. We will lose a few folks earlier that evening, but almost everyone is making the effort for the entire weekend. We just don't live in a world anymore that is contained in geographic area - unless you are marrying your high school sweetheart in your hometown. Add a few years and careers and a transplant to another coast and you've got a cocktail for a big old wedding headache. The best you can do is make decisions for yourself that make sense and then hope that the people that really love you will make the effort in the way that is best for them as well.
We are getting married on Sunday 10/14/07, and our ceremony doesn't even start until 6:15pm. We are doing pictures before the ceremony, and so far we haven't received a single no on our RSVPs... Which is surprising. I've been told that the always anticipated Raiders/Chargers game (we live in San Diego) is on that Sunday, Yet it appears that all of the 'wives' must have RSVP'd without mentioning this to their husbands.
Most of our local family lives about an hour away, so a ton of people have booked their hotels near our venue already :) With all of the money we saved going for Sunday, we were able to make it an open bar affair.
We were having an early Sunday afternoon wedding until our venue asked us to change the time (to 3 PM, but that felt odd to me, so we opted for 4 PM). I know this will present some issues for some folks, but I don't really know what to do about it.
My friend is getting married this weekend on a Sunday. Its going to be a great time, and the party will go into the wee hours. I love her and I am going and (given that its several hours away) am staying overnight so fi and I are missing work Monday.
We are happy to do it - but fi doesn't get paid for days he doesn't work, so its quite the chunk of change to be attending.
My feelings about Sunday weddings are like the destination weddings, you have to think about whether you saving a bunch of money by having the reception on Sunday is possibly at the expense of your guests having to pay more to attend. Sometimes it won't make a difference to the majority of your guests and sometimes it will.
We attended a Sunday wedding this past summer for my fiance's cousin. It was a 6 hour drive for us, and we did not plan on taking off work the next day, since we were trying to save vacation days for our honeymoon. Prior to the wedding, I did complain a lot about the fact that it was on a Sunday, as it would have been easier on all of us family members that were traveling from out of town. That said, most everyone else in attendence was local, so they didn't face the same challenges that we did.
People left early from the reception (by 8, it seemed that at least half the people had left)- and this is one of the realities of a Sunday evening wedding. We spent a long time waiting around for their first dance- instead of a receiving line, they went around to each table, which took close to 2 hours. Only after they were done did they open up the dance floor. Being family, we couldn't leave until after that and other events were completed, so we left several hours later than planned (for our 6 our drive back home) and called in sick the next day (no vacation time).
One thing they did do that I liked was cutting the cake before dinner, so it was served as people were finishing the meal. I would make sure that any activities you may be doing (i.e. first dance, bouquet toss, cake cutting) are done very early in the evening, so that people who need to leave (and there will be some) don't feel obligated to wait around for a certain event to occur.
we had a sunday wedding. ceremony was at 3 pm, all guests had to be off the grounds by 10 pm, and all breakdown had to be done by 11 pm, per the city's regulations (it's a city-owned property).
also, our venue was central to all our guests in the greater los angeles area, but that "area" spans about 40-50 miles in each direction. the closest people were about a 20 minute drive away, but the average drive was probably 30-45 minutes.
because of these factors, we were prepared for people to cut out early. the only people that really left early were families with young children. many others' stayed until around 9ish, and a good crowd of friends, family, and even our parents' friends stuck around until 10 because they were having so much fun. this was truly an unforeseen blessing and not something we could have planned. all of our guests mingled GREAT and had a blast with each other. we were afraid people would stick to the circle of friends they kenw, but for some reason everyone was uber extroverted and friendly that night, apparently. we also later found out that random people who didn't know they knew us found each other at the wedding (i.e. wedding planner's best friend from HS was a guest, my friend knew his friend from a long time ago, etc.).
oh, and in anticipation of people leaving early, we did all of our photos before the ceremony and mingled with our guests during the cocktail hour. it was really fun, and we got to taste our hors d'oeuvres, too! yum.
I just attended a Sunday wedding this past weekend. My advice to you is to leave the loud bump and grind music out of it. It's the weirdest thing when a DJ tries to get people to dance and it's bright out. Spinning disco lights don't work in this case either.
Sunday afternoon weddings should reflect as such, and the atmosphere is a lot more laid back than evening ones. As a guest I felt a bit uncomfortable when the couple's friends tried to pull people to the dancefloor in broad daylight.
I'm actually having a Sunday wedding this coming May. I relocated to NC two years ago and meet my fiancée. He had just relocated from CA, so neither of us have many family or friends in NC. We chose a location (Hilton Head) that would offer a beach atmosphere, cheap flights, driving options, and a variety of hotel prices for our guest. We chose to have a Sunday wedding for three reasons...either way our guest were going to have to take Friday or Monday off to travel....We don’t get to see our family or friends much, so we wanted Friday night to be a free night for us with no worries, no bedtime, and lots of fun...having it on Sunday will weed out the people that we feel we "have" to invite. We know that the most important people in our life will be able to attend (half the invites). Most all of our friends and family are excited about the Sunday wedding, and plan to make a 3-4 day trip out of it. Hope this helps!
Just a note - I haven't been to or had a Sunday wedding, but I did set off to the side hotel blocks for my guests and this does not caost you anything. You might be required to set off to the side 10-15, but it's no big deal because how is the hotel supposed to know how many poeople you intened to need a room?
They hold these rooms until about a mont before the wedding, when they then enter them back into the open public, you just make sure you let the people know which one and how long the rooms are held. My wedding web site has been great for this!
And just a questiona bout the sunday thing, are you so in love with this place that you wouldn't even look anywhere else? You don't really thrilled to be having a Sunday wedding, and I know that not all places have the Saturday minimum, my venue just hosted a wedding for 80 people on a saturday.
:-)
Amber
I just found out a wedding I'm in is going to be at 4PM on a Sunday. As an out of towner, I was disappointed when I heard it was going to be on a Sunday, and shocked to just learn it would be that late in the day. I didn't even realize that was possible.
Hosting a Sunday wedding when you have few/no out of town guests it's not a big deal, however those inviting out of town guests/wedding party members should try to consider how extremely inconvenient it is, especially for those in the wedding who are forced to take the day off, stay an extra night in the hotel, etc.
It's important to consider that those you invite and have in your wedding party may not have the ability and/or financial means to take Monday off. I'm just suggesting that you try to put yourself in the shoes of those who will be affected by this decision.
That being said, would you host any other event on a Sunday evening? No, you typically select a date/time that is feasible for your guests. I don't understand why this rule goes out the window when you are hosting an even bigger event like a wedding.
How much money do you typically save by having the wedding at such an inopportune time? I'm just trying to put myself in the shoes of the bride so I can understand this decision.
For <font size="2" color="#81a026">cerequio99</font> :
I am having a Sunday wedding for two reasons 1: the date has meaning to my family and 2: it is much cheaper. Sunday weddings are about 1/2 the price of a Saturday wedding and usually the venue is more flexiable with time and space. All my of guests are coming from out of town. I go with the understanding that if they cannot attend due to the travel or Sunday timing that I will be ok with that. I do not expect everyone else's life to revolve around me.
As for my wedding party, if they agree to be in the wedding they should not complain about the day or time. It is a once in a lifetime event that you most special people will accomodate to be part of.
Just my opinions.
I'm having a Sunday wedding in June. It's actually Father's Day, too, and I really hated to move it, but had to because of our venue. When we moved it to Sunday, we decided to have a 2:00 ceremony and reception from 3-6. That way, people will be able to leave and get dinner or catch a late flight. Over half of our guests are out-of-towners, so the flight option was super important to me.
We've gotten about a quarter of our responses back, and so far we've gotten hardly any no's, for which I'm really grateful.
I've also talked to lots of people who have either been to Sunday weddings or had their weddings on Sundays, and I've gotten a lot of positive responses. People like it because it doesn't consume their whole weekend, or, if they're closer to you, they have more time to spend Friday night and Saturday with you.
For us, we're having a dinner on Friday night and a brunch on Saturday morning for our closer friends and family. I can't wait!
And since our reception will be over earlier, FI and I will have plenty of time to relax in our hotel room, and we'll get more sleep before leaving early the next morning for the honeymoon.
That's my take. I think it's tacky to be so upset with a bride and groom for choosing a date and time that's inconvenient. They obviously had reasons for it, and it's not like they want everyone to leave early or not even come at all.
I'm having a Sunday wedding this month, the day before Memorial Day (the 24th). I had wanted a day in May, and the venue had two weekends open, one at the beginning and one at the end. The first date seemed a bit too early, so I chose the other, without realizing it was Memorial Day weekend which actually works out GREAT because I have a lot of young family members still in school so they will have the day off, plus it made it easier for our out of towners to travel. I only chose Sunday because if I had selected Saturday I would have had to book the entire venue (a bed and breakfast), which was much more than I could afford. I'm hoping it works out!
Thanks for the responses. I understand that bride and groom have their reasons, $ often being the main one, and I respect that. I agree complaining in any way would be rude, especially since I'm in the wedding party (but it's not rude for me to think it's inconvenient and inconsiderate).
The wedding ended up going along just fine, although I will note that a handful of people mentioned the inconvenience of the wedding date and time (unsolicited by me). I thought I'd share that as people are likely being polite when you give tell them you're having a Sunday wedding--if you're in the wedding party you can't say anything and if you're a guest you have the option of not attending (unless you're close and/or a family member in which case you've really got no choice).
Good luck to all you girls with your weddings!
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My wedding will be on a Sunday night ( 5PM reception ) and I was wondering if any of you had a wedding or has attended a Sunday wedding. My hall wouldn't book us on a Saturday night because my guest list is only 130 and we figured that most people will miss ( since we are also inviting co-workers) the wedding if we do it on a Friday.
To those who have attended or have had their weddings on a Sunday, what advice can you give? I'm a little concerned that people will have to leave early for there is work the next day. I would book a hotel for those who live far but I really can't afford to do this for everyone.
Any input would be appreciated.