Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

Hi guys! I am really curious about this- FH and I chose to have our wedding in the afternoon, entirely because it is cheaper. But I wonder if the daytime weddings were less festive and party-like because of it? Would you have moved your wedding to the evening if you had the chance? Do you think it would have made a difference?

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

OMG I just came here to check the same thing out, now you have me wondering...LMAO

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

I was so worried about this at first. Mine was the first afternoon wedding I had ever been to, so I didn't know what to expect.

Our guests danced and partied like mad! No one was the least bit shy about acting like a loon at 2:00 in the afternoon.

The best part of it was that at 7:00, when our reception ended, we dashed back to our hotel to change and met all our friends at a bar to continue the party into the wee hours. It was like having a 12-hour reception!

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

No, I don't regret having an afternoon wedding. We actually wanted our wedding to have a little bit of a different feel to it...and our guests still partied and ate and did all the usual things as if it were a nighttime one!!!

It was a blast!!!

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

Our wedding was on a Sunday afternoon - and to be quite honest - I almost wish sometimes that we could have had it on a weekend evening instead, if only for the fact that so many people did not come just based on the day and time!! A lot of our guests were so lifeless, at one point I felt like we were just hosting a really big tea party! LOL - But I'm different bc my family is boring, and about 70% of our guests were from out of state - so they either left early, or didn't come at all..... DH and I also paid for most of our wedding, so we couldn't afford an evening event anyway. Despite my sore spot about not having many people there, we truly had an amazing wedding day, and everyone tells me all the time how much they loved it, so I really think it just depends on the type of crowd you have, to be very honest. I was in a wedding on a saturday night, and it was so quiet with hardly any dancing that I almost forgot it was a wedding!! Just do what you want though - you'll have a grat day no matter what time it is!

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

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Posted by TwoBugs

I was so worried about this at first. Mine was the first afternoon wedding I had ever been to, so I didn't know what to expect.

Our guests danced and partied like mad! No one was the least bit shy about acting like a loon at 2:00 in the afternoon.

The best part of it was that at 7:00, when our reception ended, we dashed back to our hotel to change and met all our friends at a bar to continue the party into the wee hours. It was like having a 12-hour reception!

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I've been to 2 daytime weddings, and we did the same thing, as soon as the reception ended, we all went to the Marriott in Uniondale and got rooms and hung out at the bar till all hours of the night....the newlyweds joined us a few hour's later....hee.....

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

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Posted by TwoBugs

Our guests danced and partied like mad! No one was the least bit shy about acting like a loon at 2:00 in the afternoon.

The best part of it was that at 7:00, when our reception ended, we dashed back to our hotel to change and met all our friends at a bar to continue the party into the wee hours. It was like having a 12-hour reception!

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ditto!!!!!

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

Nope- people acted the same way as a night wedding. The only thing that stunk was when you walked outside after drinking all afternoon you were blinded because it was still daylight. We had Saturday afternoon and it was convenient for the older people so they didn't have to drive at night and noone had problems finding a babysitter.

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

I had mine at PJCC and had the CH outside on the water. It was a gorgeous day and was so nice to enjoy the view. The sound was full of sailboats - it was so perfect!

My only regret is the rushed feeling I had all day. Hairdressers came at 5:30, makeup at 7, I was only done by 10, pictures until 10:30, then to the church. The hall wouldn't let me do anything but a 1:00 start to my CH, my horrible limo driver ignored our directions, got us lost, so we ended up arriving during the CH (all guests already there!) and missed it to take pictures. I was so stressed it took a few hours to calm down and enjoy it.

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

I've had the different experience. Our wedding had to be evening becasue we had both seen day weddings and people did have fun but the mood was different. I think Day people are more meet and greet at the weddings we saw..at ours we cant wait to get the video because the candle light and guests dancing was moving..at one point I stopped and looked and said..wow..this is all I wanted..

P>S The Guests are the ones who will make a party...DAy or Night!

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

I just switched from a day to an evening wedding.

My FW hit me with this last week... wanted to change it. I didn't have a problem changing it. I think she wanted more a 'party atmosphere'.

But I think having the evening wedding will make her life a lot easier cause it gives her a lot more time to get ready. I have heard brides having to wake up as early as 4AM to prepare for a day wedding.

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

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Posted by franksbride

No, I don't regret having an afternoon wedding. We actually wanted our wedding to have a little bit of a different feel to it...and our guests still partied and ate and did all the usual things as if it were a nighttime one!!!

It was a blast!!!

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I agree 100%!

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

Yes - we had ours in the afternoon for the same reasons you are and looking back we wished we had spent the extra $. I know that afternoon weddings are considered more casual but I felt like it took away from the significance of the affair...and in my pics some people looked like they were dressed to go to work... Plus the atmosphere was just different.

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

I never thought twice about having a daytime wedding. We are not fancy-pants type people, my (new) husband and I, and though everything was very elegant it also felt nice and laid back, no-stress. I had a simple butterfly theme which fit very well with our late summer sunshiny afternoon reception and gardeny feel of the Watermill.

What I loved best is that because it was during the day we were able to have babies and children come to the wedding, and the kids were up dancing the day away! It added to the simplicity and innocence of the affair. I can't imagine not sharing my day with them.

It all depends on what type of person you are if you have a day or evening wedding, what kind of event you want. Personally, I don't regret a thing.

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

We had an afternoon wedding and the only downside was how early we had to get up in the morning...well, how early I had to get up - DH got to sleep....
And becuase it was early, we didn't have time to do anything last minute the day of the wedding.

But the actual party was insane! People were dancing and drinking like it was the middle of the night! I forgot that it was the afternoon for the majority of the wedding becasue it felt just like any evening wedding I've ever been to!

And, as many others have said, afterwards, we went back to the hotel and kept the party going! We had about 100 of the guests join us at the hotel....and we got to prolong the day by staying up until midnight.....which I really liked becasue I got to talk to a lot of the people in a more relaxed setting.....and I actually got to talk to them, unlike the wedding where I was being pulled in a thousand directions.

So all in all, if I had to do it again, I would do it exactly the same!

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

The only things I regret about having a daytime wedding are the hour I had to get up on the morning of, and the EXTREMELY tight schedule it caused me to have. If it were up to me to do it over, I'd have the Ceremony at 10:30 or so, then an hour between the ceremony and CH (and then reception).

My party was fantastic, and I didn't even realize that it was daytime.

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

I would have! I have to say our group didn't dance that much even though our band was incredible but as I have said previously we had a mostly older wedding. When they played some much older songs then some more wandered on but honestly our friends were not as rowdy as they can be.

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

People were totally dancing at our wedding, it didn't even occur to me to have it at night, I didn't think it mattered at all. I had Jamaicans and Jews dancing like there was no tommorrow - together! It's all about the people you have, and no one can stop Jamaicans from dancing when there's music playing!

Only issue was the rushed feeling with pics and stuff, but that's just my damn family - they would have been rushed irregardless.

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

I had a wonderful time, I am so happy that i had early morning wedding. People party all day even at night.

Re: Day time weddings, do you regret not having it in the evening?

I don't regret it at all. It was an early morning- hair started at 6 am, but I really had no time to stress or worry. In terms of the actual party- we had a great DJ (Tom from Spin Around Sound) and we tried to stay on the dance floor as much as possible to keep people dancing. Afterwards a bunch of us hung out at the hotel and we ordered heros. We also had a lot of OOT guests and it seemed to work well with travel plans.