Weekday weddings

lettice

Could anyone share with me their experiences of having, or attending, a weekday wedding? By weekday, I mean Monday-Thursday as opposed to Friday, as I think Friday (and Sunday) weddings are quite common/accepted now.

ska_lover

Hi there,

I attended a weekday wedding last year,

74jax

I went to one on a Thursday, was fine. Not many people were drinking due to work the next day and most left around 10-10.30 but I think everyone turned up.

nikkilou1984

My fiance and I are getting married on a Thursday next year, in April. We picked it because when we was trying to choose a date I was thinking along the lines of bank holidays etc and the Thursday we've picked is actually the day before Good Friday next year, so its kinda like a Friday but its actually a Thursday!

We've mentioned it to all guests and have sent out save the dates now and everyone's reacted well about it and think its a brill idea as it is saving us ALOT of money.
I've not mentioned it to suppliers etc that its the day before a bank holiday though, just in case they class it as a Friday. Although I did check with registrars, just to be on the safe side, and it was fine.

Cuilean

We're on a Thursday too. So much cheaper, and since we want as small a gathering as we can get away with, makes sense financially too. The registry office is half the price it would be over the weekend, and the reception venue we wanted was in no danger of being booked by anyone else when we went to view it. Their diary for the weekends however, was chocka.

Of the 50 or so people we invited, only about half a dozen have declined, and we expected about that quantity. Some friends in Scotland can't justify coming down for one day, so we've promised them the chance to celebrate when we're up there next. Some who are more local have only had to ask for half a day off because the reception is from 4pm. It's during the school holidays too, so a few more had already booked that time off work, and don't have to worry about taking kids out of school.

We've had no real complaints from any of our guests about it being on a Thursday. Complaints about who various relatives thought we should have included, on the other hand.... :rotfl:

lika_86

Cheaper for the bride and groom, but I find it really annoying when I have to use my holiday to attend a wedding, especially if you have a few weddings in a year which are Sundays or Fridays. I'd be even more annoyed to have to take two days off if it was on a Monday-Thursday. I'd never say anything to the bride and groom but I'd definitely be thinking it was a pain in the !!!!.

CompBunny

We are attending the wedding of my partners cousin (who he has seen 2 or 3 times in the past 8 years and only in family group situations) later in the year, it is also on a thursday. Its also a 3 hour drive away and we will need to be staying over the night before and the night after (I have ME, need to rest lots after journey to be well enough to attend wedding then rest lots before journeying back ) but when it is a family member you do these things without really thinking. We would do the same for a close friend. However, for a not so close friend we might politely decline if H2B didn't have enough holiday allowance after other things scheduled...and a not so close friend might also be relieved to have 2 less guests to feed!

swampduck

My sister married on a Thursday. It was a registry office do - very informal - and we had a terrific day all round. It was close family and friends only and the bride and groom had planned everything themselves and done all the catering themselves and held the reception at their home.
The fact that it was midweek made no difference in my eyes - if I want to be at someones' wedding and they have taken the trouble to invite me to share their day then I will do my best to be there.

Swampy

ellay864

To me it's the same principle as marrying abroad, or not inviting children...it's your choice for your reason but you have to be prepared for people to decline for their reasons. A wedding invitation is just that - an invitation, that people then have the choice to accept or not. Of course it's the biggest most important day of your lives, but it doesn't have the same importance to others. Once you move away from very close family and friends, others may not be so willing to use up days holiday etc. As long as you understand that and can live with their decision there's no problem

lettice

Thanks for all of the comments. It's been really useful reading through them all!

Most of our guests (around 2/3rds) are close family members and we think they will all be able to make it as long as we choose the day sensibly (e.g. school holidays, plenty of notice, and so on). As for our friends, we would hope that they would be able to join us too but accept that it might not be possible for all of them. We've got around 65-70 people we wish to invite; all of the friends are therefore close friends.

Our preference really is to get married on a Saturday but it seems that we would be able to save so much more money getting by married in the week! The main problem is not so much the cost of catering/drinks but that venue hire is so expensive at the weekend.

I've enquired about the possibility of booking on a Monday in August (i.e. school holidays) just to see how much it would cost. We can then at least discuss the date with the VIPs (i.e. everyone who really must be there) if it does look suitable. Otherwise, I think we'll keep looking for a more affordable option!

Didn't realise it would be so tricky to find somewhere for about 70 guests that didn't cost £2500-£3000 to hire. Ouch.

cats2012

I think this depends massively where your guests are travelling from. We just couldn't do it because we wanted people there in the evening and whilst most could travel up in the morning they needed to stay overnight to be able to enjoy the evening at all, so that's actually 2 days off work with heading home the next morning, or at least 1.5

However my friend's sister had hers on a Tuesday and because literally all her friends and family are local it was fine, people just needed the Tuesday off. Some couldn't and just came to the evening but they could still stay pretty late etc, although like others have said there was much less drinking.