Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

Original post by Tara24

Dec 10, 2008 09:14 PM

Hey Ladies:

I have decided that i will be having my wedding at Land's End the weekend of March 26th (friday) or March 27 (saturday). Right after i called up Land's End confirming the friday date i placed it as my status on Facebook (BECAUSE I AM EXCITED).

Within 2 minutes my cousin messaged me that she was super excited, but also said she might be late!!! This message freaked me out a bit!! This friday is right before a break for teachers (i am a teacher also), i understand it is hard to get the day off, but i thought people would take the extra step to make sure they make the church.

Should i have it on a saturday??? Any negative feelings towards friday weddings?

RadiantBride Posted: Dec 11, 2008 09:09 AM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

I think it really depends on the time that everything will take place.

I had a Friday night wedding with 240 guests and my ceremony was packed. Maybe about 1% of my guest didnt go to the ceremony. I got married in the hall and brought my pastor in to officiate. My ceremony started at 7pm so that gave everyone plenty of time to get there. Having a packed ceremony was extremely important to me, and having tons of people from OOT I opted to do the Hall ceremony vs the church ceremony. It is really up to you, I have been to Friday church ceremonies where it was pretty empty and I have been to others where it was packed. Its up to you and your guests. The important people will be there no matter what day and/or time it is.
As a PP mentioned I love Friday night weddings bc you do have the rest of the weekend to recover and run errands.

SB7308 Posted: Dec 11, 2008 09:11 AM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

No matter what day of the week, people will be late.

Teachers get out earlier than regular 9-5 jobs. If your church is in the evening, most people will be able to attend.

KerriJohnS Posted: Dec 11, 2008 09:12 AM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

I am having a Friday night wedding. I am doing STD's so the people who want to come to the church know in advance to take off or get out early. We are doing a 3 pm church ceremony. Then for the cocktail hour we are doing an hour and a half... so it's from 7:30 to 9 then a 4 hour reception. I chose 7:30 and did the hour and a half to give people who didn't take off from work more time to come. I feel those I am absolutely closest to will be at the church and it will be more intimate because it will be filled moreso with the people I love the most and are the closest to. Also, I am going to try and see if we can get a DVD of the wedding and play some clips on the plasma screens... just a few shots of us walking in and me walking down the aisle and the kiss... nothing too long... but little snippets so those who missed it can see it.

KerriJohnS Posted: Dec 11, 2008 09:14 AM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

Friday is also nice not just becuase you save money with the RH and other vendors... but also you have a recooperation day for Saturday then you can leave for the honeymoon on Sunday or even Sat night.
Most people love Sat and I totally understand why. When I was first going into it I really wanted Sat but always knew if the price was right I would settle for a Friday... and now i love that it's a Fri.

KerriJohnS Posted: Dec 11, 2008 09:15 AM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

Posted by trophywife

i personally prefer saturday weddings.

that said, mine is on a friday because of the price difference - i couldn't justify $30 more per person because of one day difference.

i am giving my guests plenty of notice (over 1 year) and hope they would plan to come - just as i have done for them

My RH was like $50 more pp for Sat night!

medic6809 Posted: Dec 11, 2008 09:18 AM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

I had a Friday wedding and even though it was a destination wedding our ariginal wedding was for a Friday also and I LOVED our Friday wedding. IMHO the people that matter most will be at the ceremony, and the people that can make the reception will make it. Trust me it seems important and huge now, but on your wedding day you will have so many people to see, greet, and entertain you won't notice. The day is a blur so do what YOU want. I LOVE Friday weddings because it leaves me the rest of the weekend free. Good Luck

twoifbysea Posted: Dec 11, 2008 09:23 AM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

We are having our wedding on a Friday night largely because the catering manager at Danford's urged it (even though she's supposed to sell Saturday nights because they're more money). Though our situation is a little different -- most of my Bridal Party is consisted of teachers and are still on summer vacation (ours is the Friday of Labor Day weekend and 9-5 people usually get leave work early on that day), the reasons why we switched from that Saturday to the Friday are as follows:

1. SIGNIFICANT cost difference! We're saving over $5k by doing it on a Friday
2. We have a fresh staff, ready and energetic for the weekend
3. They only do one wedding a day on Fridays, so there won't be any overlap from an afternoon wedding. I HATE when different BP's bump into one another -- happened to me a few times as a BM
4. It won't interfere with people who are trying to make a mini vacation out of the holiday weekend. They'll still be able to do Hamptons / Montauk / Greenport Saturday thru Monday if they choose

So that's my pitch LOL. I am sending out STD's WAY early so people can make arrangements to leave work early etc. Also, our ceremony location is like 3 minutes away from our RH so most guests will (hopefully) make both.

BeLissa Posted: Dec 11, 2008 11:20 AM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

Personally, I prefer Saturday. We chose to have ours on a Saturday not only because we both just liked that day better but we have most of our guests coming in from OOT and it would be a huge inconvenience to do it on a Fri. That being said, the price difference is significant and if we werent having so many OOT guests I think we would have been ok with a Fri, but we are also getting married at the RH so there is no early afternoon ceremony time factor.

marriedinmontauk Posted: Dec 11, 2008 11:34 AM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

I would consider where your guests are coming from. If you wedding is in Suffolk and you have guests from the city or Nassau the traffic on a summer Friday is epic.
Mine was on a Saturday and people complained about getting there so much.

Deeglasser Posted: Dec 11, 2008 07:38 PM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

i don't have negative feelings toward friday weddings AT ALL. i def prefer them over sunday weddings... saturday is your best bet, however the difference in price is phenomenal... i have friends who chose friday night and the weddings are a month apart- i am not taking off 2 fridays in the spring to be on time to both, i just started a position in a school in october! it definitely depends on your guests' situation!

Espo22 Posted: Dec 11, 2008 08:27 PM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

6 is real early for a friday wedding. And you are going to have to accept the fact that not everybody will make it to your ceremony on a friday, heck even for saturday weddings not EVERYBODY makes it to the ceremony lol. I got married on a saturday and not like most of my guests came to the church lol.

But you cant get mad at ppl if they cant make it and say you hope they take the extra step to make sure. If they can then I am sure they will but not everybodies job has that flexibility and able to take off just like that. Some jobs you CANT take off just any day. There were times I had to always cover for somebody and if i was covering for somebody else then you better believe there was no chance in H E L L i would even be able to take off or leave early those days, no matter what the situation was. Hey ive had to change my surgery date last year bc of this, ive even had to cancel so many appointments bc all of a sudden i was covering and had to stay late. You can't get mad at somebody if they are in this situation. Some might not have days left, or who knows maybe they will have an important meeting or something they have to get done that day.

I would do 8pm also for friday wedding. I used to get home from work at 6:30pm, so i wouldnt even be able to make it. Not to mention i would have to go home and change first, and for example it would take me about an hour to get to some places in LI especially on a friday so even if i got ready with the quickness, i wouldnt be there until 8pm.

I was able to take off once for a friday wedding, i had the days and i didnt have to cover that day for anybody. But doesnt mean now i can do that all the time for any wedding.

meli722 Posted: Dec 11, 2008 09:53 PM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

6 is very early in my opinion for a friday wedding, for a friday i would do cocktail hour to start at 8PM, if thats possible...people say that if you give notice they can make arrangements, but its not that easy with some peoples jobs.just take into consideration it isnt easy for some people to take off work........so many might not be able to make it to the ceremony

MeaganAndJoeC Posted: Dec 11, 2008 11:18 PM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

IMO its hard to get to a friday church if its before or at 4. I would not take off of work to go to a 3 or 4 o'clock cermemony unless I was in the wedding. Plus my district looks down on 'extended weekends'. My wedding was at the hall and yes I had 200 guests at my hall but thats because the cocktail hour followed straught after. I truely belive that Friday wedding are hard for most ppeople. Sat weddings def have more people at the church because nobdy has an excuse. But when it comes down to it you need to do whats best for you and FH.

GL

FutureMrsM Posted: Dec 12, 2008 11:37 AM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

We chose a Saturday night so that we wouldn't have that issue, but we also have a lot of people coming from New Jersey, Brooklyn and Queens so it would make it even harder for us to do a Friday.

RockysGirl Posted: Dec 12, 2008 12:29 PM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

If you have the choice (and money isn't a factor) I would definitely go with the Saturday Wedding!!

Friday weddings are just really tough! I had one just recently and it was such a pain. I got off work at 6:00 and had barely anytime to hurry home, get dressed, make myself pretty, and run into the ceremony JUST in time. And then from having woke up so early and worked hard all day, I was way too tired to even enjoy my night out. It went until about 1am, but like a big loser I was actually dead tired by 11. Ugh. So I basically missed the VH and left early. That wasn't really a pleasant night. And I know I wasn't the only one. All the other working people (which was everyone) kept trying to load up on drinks just to wake themselves up. That's a problem if you're the one driving home later on.

Saturday is just a lot more pleasant. Normally you don't work anyway, so most people are not as tired that night. I mean, yeah, some people have gotta get up early the next morning for church, but you deal. I'd rather be tired the next day. No way I wanna miss anything at a wedding because I'm just so drained from it being the end of a long hard week.

But that's just my opinion. It was one of the main factors that led to me choosing Saturday Night.

hogie2be Posted: Dec 13, 2008 11:33 AM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

Posted by MrsC2010

i was originally against a friday night wedding because I felt rude asking people to take off work/leave early. With the price, I decided that i would go with a Friday...the people who matter the most will be there.

I have also heard people say they like the friday night weddings because they have saturday to recover and then still have sunday to get things done...it doesnt kill the whole weekend.

I think you just have to decide what you can afford and what works best for the people that you want there the most.

I agree.. PLUS tons of people dont' go to the church anymore even if it is 'convenient' such as Sat afternoon- FH and I were the only ones at a Sat afternoon wedding out of 2 tables from work

MKEA98 Posted: Dec 13, 2008 01:54 PM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

I do think Saturday Weddings are the best overall because most people are off, and don't have to rush to get there at night. But we did a Friday night, and it was fine, and we had plenty of people at the Church. You definitely need to be aware that obviously not everyone can come to the Church because of work. Those that really want to be there will be there.

Honestly, if you did change it to a Saturday, you'd probably be surprised that not that many more people will be there. So many people just don't go to the church anymore. Sometimes it's hard because the Church might be so out of the way from the Reception Hall, and depending on where the people live, it's just easier to skip the church.

I admit that I kind of only go to the church if it's a very close friend, or just convenient enough for me - for example, near my house, not doing anything else like getting my hair/nails done before that, have time to go back to my house and get ready for the reception, etc.

So if you want to do Friday, do the Friday. And as someone else posted, if you are Catholic and if it is during Lent - talk to your church about granting a pardon on the eating meat thing that Friday. I went to a Friday wedding during Lent, and the priest told us we could eat meat at the wedding and to just please pick another day during Lent to give up meat for the day.

christine2010 Posted: Dec 13, 2008 04:19 PM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

i was in a similar situation. i was torn between a friday or saturday wedding. when it came down to the numbers my RH is $35 more per person for the exact same menu on a saturday.

i have been to weddings on both fridays & saturdays and i work a 9-6 job in manhattan. but to be honest i preferred the friday wedding. i left work early & had enough time to go to the church. when a wedding is on a saturday, i ended up taking half day off on friday to be able to do the laundry that i would of been doing on saturday. plus when i had a saturday wedding i was so exhausted on sunday that i didn't want to do anything. at least with a friday wedding i had saturday to relax.

like me your wedding is in 2010, which means if you start telling people now that your wedding is on a friday they have ample time to work out their schedules. i personally think if someone wants to be at church they will be no matter what day it is. my CH starts at 7, so i will probably have my church at 3, which leaves ample time for photos & i can arrive at my RH by 5 to take photos there.

fiore76 Posted: Dec 13, 2008 06:51 PM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

I think Saturdays are better.

EngagedInAruba Posted: Dec 13, 2008 07:04 PM

Re: Friday vs.s Saturday Weddings

I think you should have your wedding when you want. What ever day you choose, somebody is going to have something to say about it.

As a fellow teacher, I know how hard it is to get the Friday before a break or holiday off. But it is definitely not impossible. The other thing...if the 09-10 holiday schedule is anything like this year, your cousin might get that day off anyway. In the NYC schools, we got a couple of extra days here and there because of the way the holidays fell.

Lastly, aren't we talking about a wedding in 2010? The calendar for 2009 has March 26 as a Friday. If you start talking to people now and send the STD's out a little earlier than you planned, people have plently of time to request off if they need it. Tell the people you think wil lhave a difficult time getting time off as soon as possible. A year is plently of time to make that kind of request.

GL