As a Wedding Guest...

Original post by Jordan

Jun 02, 2003 08:14 PM

would Friday of a holiday weekend (Mem Day, Labor Day, 4th of July) be more 'bothersome' (interfere with plans, heavier traffic, etc.) than a different Friday during the summer?

(My Groomzilla is at it...again.)

Jordan Posted: Jun 03, 2003 10:25 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

No jennbaby, none of the places we visited offered a discount for holiday weekends. Atlantica offered us a hefty discount if we took September 11th...but we weren't interested.

My sister got married over Mem Day weekend...she had people fly in from AZ, FL & GA...of the 145 people she invited, 5 couldn't make it. I guess I've always looked at it as...holiday weekends come every year, at the same time - weddings do not. If someone really wantst to go to a wedding, they will - regardless of anything else.

My FH, on the other hand, thinks about traffic and people's plans.

We're looking into moving the date to late July or August. We'll make a decision today or tomorrow. Gah. Just when I thought I had something major done!

Jordan Posted: Jun 03, 2003 10:27 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

Lunatrek...we can't meet the minimum for a Saturday night wedding...otherwise we'd book it. But since the Hamlet gives you product if you can't meet the minimum, we are considering just going with a different Sat. I'd rather put that (almost $8k) towards something else...but we're only getting married once, so who knows!

cw0904 Posted: Jun 03, 2003 10:28 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

To be honest, it would bother me a bit. The big holidays are the only days that FH and I automatically get off at work without taking our own personal time and FH and I always try to do something on a holiday weekend.
We were invited to a wedding in Houston over Labor Day weekend last year and we received a std letter 8 months before. We did go b/c we were notified so far in advance, I am close with the bride and also we used it as the excuse to get away that weekend to a place we have never been to.

eroxgirl Posted: Jun 03, 2003 10:28 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

I personally don't mind but my FH gets soooooo angry when he has to go to a wedding on a holiday weekend. Two of his cousins got married on Fridays - one on Memorial Day weekend and the other on Labor Day weekend. He b*tched nonstop until the day came - and he went anyway. People are going to complain about something no matter what, so really its up to you.

jennbaby Posted: Jun 03, 2003 10:29 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

Sept 11th whoa

Good Luck with your decision whatever you chose but your FH is right, if they really want to go they will make it

Jordan Posted: Jun 03, 2003 10:33 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

hahaha, no jennbaby, *I* said they will come regardless. He's the worry wart.

My stepmother was in the first tower hit on Sept 11th...we asked her how she would feel about our having a wedding on that day...she said she was fine with it. My mother's (now ex) long time boyfriend is a firefighter and he lost 4 of the 5 guys who answered the call that day (yes, he was the 5th) plus his dearest friend from another engine company...my mother was appalled that we would even consider the day. (We weren't considering it seriously...but were curious about people's feelings on the matter. I guess it's still soon after...but I'm sure there are plenty of weddings on December 7th, ya know?)

bethsiar Posted: Jun 03, 2003 10:42 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

It also depends on what you do as well. Our wedding is Memorial Day Sunday of next year. At our engagement party almost all of our guests (especially friends) are excited to actually do something fun for Memorial Day that doesn't involve them hosting a party or sitting around bored at someone's house.
Personally, there is nothing on Labor Day weekend that would ever pull me away from going to a wedding, its not like thats New Years Eve or some romantic holiday. A lot of people WON'T travel on those days for vacation because they know the children will be off from school and the price goes up with black out dates from the airlines etc. If anything, it gives people something fun and different to do. I would hate to travel somewhere with FI where I'm traveling and touring with families. JMO. Of couse, if most of your friends have children and are families that could be a completely different story, I think it really depends on your crowd. A lot of places we looked at said Memorial day weekend books first.
Finally, I'm making a 'weekend Wedding' out of it, where there will be winery tours on Saturday (my parents have a summer house out there) and Sunday the wedding, and Monday a Memorial Day Newlywed barbque at our house. Maybe you could use the extra 8K to do something like that. I read that if you do a 'weekend wedding' the guests will be more comfortable knowing eachother and meeting already and have more fun at the wedding. Just something to think about.

Lunatrek Posted: Jun 03, 2003 10:42 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

That stinks how places charge more for different days

Another 2 cents of mine, my FH was in Tower 2 on 9/11 and we actually considered having our wedding on 9/11.... because we don't want to have such terrible memories of that day, so we wanted to turn it into something good. But then we changed our minds because it's still too early. That's a pretty solemn day no matter how much you try to make it better, and we wouldn't want to offend anyone. I'm surprised that vendors offered you a discount for the day, though.

Jordan Posted: Jun 03, 2003 11:02 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

The discount was offered b/c they felt they would have a hard time booking that date.

Betty Posted: Jun 03, 2003 11:15 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

I don't agree with the discount for a holiday weekend either. We visited about 7 places and originally we were looking at Columbus day weekend and then we booked Labor Day weekend. Neith date at any places were dicounted at all

soon2bmrs2004 Posted: Jun 03, 2003 08:29 PM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

Traffic is traffic and here on Long Island you can't avoid it. If it were me I wouldn't care. I wanted to go I would go regardless of the time of year.

maysie18 Posted: Jun 04, 2003 12:57 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

Our reception site did offer a small discount - like $6/pp, for a Sun. wedding during Columbus Day weekend. Leonard's actually tried to charge us MORE money, claiming it is a holiday weekend altho hardly anyone gets the day off anymore. they were the only site we visited who tried that!

re: Friday weddings - I would go depending on how important the person(s) was to me. My MOH had her weddng on a Friday & a few folks who rsvped yes didn't show for various reasons (running the gamut from traffic to illness) & she was ****ed, understandably.

eternityawaits Posted: Jun 04, 2003 01:10 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

I don't mind if we lose a lot of the people we invite due to previous plans.. I kinda want it small anyway. The holiday weeked is better for FH to get off from work around too.

butterfly20 Posted: Jun 04, 2003 01:27 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

pick any day you want.. just make sure you invite enough people so that you have enough 'yes' to meet your minimum...

im curious how much discount were they giving for september 11th?

Jordan Posted: Jun 04, 2003 09:18 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

butterfly20...I believe it was about $25 off pp at the Atlantica. We didn't love the place enough to consider it...we also didn't want any kind of stigma surrounding our wedding day, being September 11th and all.

jenny2penny Posted: Jun 04, 2003 09:36 AM

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Jordan Posted: Jun 04, 2003 09:42 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

We originally wanted the Sunday of Labor Day weekend - even though we hate Sunday weddings, having Monday off was nice - but the place we fell in love with, was already booked.

I agree about the people living on LI knowing about the traffic and should plan accordingly. We have a handful of people coming from out of state.

It doesn't really matter now, the day is tainted for me so we're looking into other days. Even though we can't make the minimum for a Sat night, my FH is still hung up on the day b/c he feels it would be easier for everyone. Even though his cousin had 400 people come to his Friday night wedding and my sister had all but 5 people come to her Friday of Mem Day weekend wedding. He can't seem to grasp that if people want to go to a wedding, regardless of whether they like Fridays or not, they will go. We'll see.

jenny2penny Posted: Jun 04, 2003 10:11 AM

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Jordan Posted: Jun 04, 2003 10:15 AM

Re: As a Wedding Guest...

We've already booked our place - along with our photographer & band! Fri min is 125, Sat is 150. The Hamlet gives you product if you fall short - so we're not paying for plates that no one will eat...we'll get more product. As it stands our gueslist is at 161...with an assumed 28 no-shows, or maybes.