You probably already know that Saturdays take the win when it comes to couples choosing their wedding dates. Bridal studies show that 7 in 10 weddings take place on a Saturday, and there are good reasons for this. For most of us, our weekends start on a Saturday, after a long week at work, and never a Friday evening. This often means that if a Saturday wedding was taking place out of town, guests can make it as they would leave on a Friday evening if travelling or arrive on that Saturday morning, with Sunday serving as their recuperation day before they return to work on Monday. With this in mind, it all makes sense why Saturday is and might always be the couples’ favorite for weddings. This is only but one advantage of a Saturday wedding. While Saturdays are a favorite, at Baroque Contempo we’re seeing more and more couples choose Thursdays and Fridays for their wedding date. It’s becoming quite the trend as couples try to take advantage of the benefits of having a weekday wedding.
Would you consider a Thursday or Friday wedding date? Lets look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of having one:
Advantage: More Choices
As you’d expect with most wedding sites, bookings for Saturdays often get filled up fast. You’re most likely to find that there is a lot of availability for Thursdays and Fridays as they are obviously not the conventional wedding days.
Disadvantage: Expect Fewer Guests At Your Wedding
Don’t be surprised if most of your guests RSVP “no”. It is difficult to make plans for a wedding on a weekday. Some people may simply not have the logistics in place or have work, school or other plans that would make it impossible to attend your Thursday or Friday nuptials.
Advantage: Save Money
The most popular wedding days come with higher fees, for most, if not all aspects of a wedding. Choosing a Saturday for your wedding date will see your wedding expenses shoot up no doubt. It is of course one of the reasons why weddings are expensive to this day. On the contrary, if you chose a Thursday/Friday wedding date which is less popular, you could be saving a lot of money. For example, wedding venues that want to sell available venue hire dates that would otherwise remain unbooked may offer the same space for a sit-down dinner on Thursday/Friday for a much lower price than it would normally charge for a Saturday wedding.
Disadvantage: You Might See Some Late Arrivals And/Or Early Departures
While you might save a ton on the reception venue, some guests may not be able to attend both the ceremony and the sit-down dinner at your wedding reception. And even if they did, they may opt to leave early because they are either too tired from a long week’s work or have to work the very next day if your wedding took place on a Thursday. With this in mind, you may need to be a little more flexible and plan ahead – give them something to look forward to and perhaps consider setting up something like Arabian style fancy beds with canopies outdoors or even a bunch of sofas in one area at your reception, so that tired guests could playfully take a lie down and actually get plenty of rest while celebrating your nuptials.
Advantage: A Thursday/Friday Wedding Will Most Likely Attract Only Those That Love You The Most
Lets face it, we all have 1,000 friends on Facebook, Instagram and in our lives in general, but when we get to know who our true friends are is when we make special requests.
While everyone of our friends would conveniently attend our Saturday nuptials because it is obviously convenient for them – and why would anyone want to turn down some good food, cool ambience and great entertainment? On the flip side, not many people would be thrilled to travel or drive a long way to attend a Thursday/Friday wedding. This is where you’re likely to find that only your biggest fans or closest friends and family would find a way to attend while others would decline. But it’s important to remember that it doesn’t meant that those who decline don’t care about you, they may have genuine reasons why they can’t make it on a weekday. The key to avoiding these doubts or fracturing relationships in this kind of thing is ensuring that you give them plenty of notice. By doing so, you would be saving a lot of friendships that you might otherwise question if they didn’t make it to your wedding for good reason.
Disadvantage: Religious Conflict
Some religions may not readily have available the resources required to host your Thursday/Friday wedding. For example, for a Christian couple, the priest or the church venue may need to re-arrange the church’s weekday programs to accommodate your wedding ceremony. While this may not be a big deal for most churches, it is good to keep this in mind that schedule conflicts might mean you’ll need to have a back-up plan. Worse case scenario, you could find someone else to officiate your wedding in a different setting, such as a beautiful outdoor ceremony which, come to think of it isn’t bad at all.
Advantage: Ditch The Cookie-Cutter Wedding & Get Creative
In an effort to make your wonderful guests (who made every effort to turn up for your weekday wedding) comfortable, getting creative with your wedding events should ease any discomfort or inconvenience that could stem from a Thursday/Friday wedding. You could invent considerate plans such as a plan for the wedding reception to end earlier so that so your guests could get home in time for bed before if they’re working on the next day. Your guests will always notice when you’re considerate no matter how little the effort, and they’ll love you for it.
Disadvantage: Lack Of Creativity
If you lack creativity, you might struggle to plan things properly to fit in with your unconventional wedding date. However, that’s what wedding planners are for – we help couples plan their special day, and regardless of the wedding date they choose, we make things work.
Advantage: Save On Airfare And Hotel Costs
Have you noticed that for the same hotels or flights, prices vary throughout the year/date/day of the week and so on? One of the reasons we’re seeing a spike in couples getting married on Thursdays and Fridays is because they want to take advantage of lower airfare for their out-of-town guests and their honeymoon flights. In addition, the hotel costs for their honeymoon gets cheaper too. This is especially true for a Thursday wedding – a day which is mostly classified as mid-week when making these types of bookings.
