Friday weddings

We're having a Friday wedding. We have one teacher who can't make it, and that's about it.

I actually love them...it means I get my weekend to myself! We went to one last year, and opted for a Friday over a Saturday.

Our daughter had a Friday wedding and saved roughly £2000 on the Saturday price. We only had two who couldn't make it as they too were teachers, lived in Southampton and it would have meant having to have Thursday off as well as the Friday to travel to Yorkshire for the wedding. It was lovely having the weekend to 'recover' for us!

On the photography side it could be tricky for a part time photographer if they have another job in the week. A full time pro will not have any issues.

As Bill said, supplier wise a Friday wont be a problem for a full timer, so from a vendor point of view you're good to go ?

One thing I would say though, is that Fridays are really popular so don't fall into the trap of thinking that as it's technically a weekday you'll have a bit longer to pick suppliers as things wont be as busy. Our Fridays tend to book up as quickly as our Saturdays. A couple of our clients have lost out on their first choice VOGS and things for this reason

As said, Fridays are becoming increasingly popular, I personally have more Friday bookings than Saturday this year!

I'm having a friday wedding and my Mum's a teacher.. She's getting the friday off no problem. My Dad works in a school too and again, no problem. If your guests really want to come there is a way of getting a weekday off especially if given enough notice

As someone who doesn’t get an awful lot of annual leave and has friends getting married right left and centre I hate week day weddings. Of course I will still turn up to see my friends get married, but that doesn’t mean I don't wish they had picked a Saturday instead. I have been invited to one this September which I am seriously considering not going to, as I am getting married this year myself if I go to this additional wedding I will not be able to take a further holiday this year. In this particular case it is not even money that is the problem, it is that they were not organised enough to get a Saturday date at the venue they want. If I am honest, unless money is a real issue for the couple or they have a lot of friends/family who work weekends I think week day weddings are a bit selfish.

I'm a Friday bride ?

The reasons were

It was cheaper

It's my OH's birthday and the anniversary of the day he proposed

You have Saturday and Sunday to recover before going back to work.

I haven't had anyone that can't come due to it being a Friday.

I'm considering a Friday for the same reason. I don't really know any teachers but OHs side of the family will be travelling over 250 miles to come to the wedding.

I'm going to ask them if there are any problems with a Friday before I book anything which may be an idea for you to do to the people that you really really want at your wedding

We are having a Friday wedding Very Exciting

x

I do loads of Friday weddings....they are equally as good as a Saturday. My daughter got married on a Thursday....which was perfect because it meant I could still take weddings at the week end if I wanted to!

I think it's very different for a daughter's wedding to a friend's. I doubt many schools would be happy granting a teacher a day off to go to a friend's wedding.

As I live in the middle of nowhere, for a Saturday wedding anywhere other than my home town, I normally have to take at least a half day on the Friday to get there. A Friday wedding would mean taking a full or half day on the Thursday plus the Friday. I'd do it for close family or good friends, but for not so good friends, I'd really have to think twice. Having said that, that's a good thing for some people - it means only the people who REALLY want to be there will go.

So weekend weddings aren't selfish for people that work weekends then?!

FLICKANDZEB I'm having a friday wedding and my Mum's a teacher.. She's getting the friday off no problem. My Dad works in a school too and again, no problem. If your guests really want to come there is a way of getting a weekday off especially if given enough notice

My Mum is also a teacher and when we were discussing wether to have the wedding on a Friday or a Saturday my Mum said that she could get the Friday off using some sort of leave (feel like an idiot for not remembering the word now!) but if she was invited to a friends wedding, I know she wouldn't even ask to get it off.

Like someone else said getting off for a daughters wedding and a friends wedding is different. x

I'm a Friday bride too! I always thought we'd go for a Saturday but we got £1000 off the price for a Friday so couldn't really turn it down. We will be sending Save the dates out a year before the wedding so guests have plenty of notice, although I know a few family members will secretly begrudge us for making them "waste" a days holiday!

I'm having a Thursday wedding! We only got engaged in February and we had a very small window in which to get married this summer when my brother and family are over from Singapore. He's a teacher and there was no chance of him being able to get back to the UK before Christmas. OH didn't want a winter wedding and neither of us wanted to wait until next year. There was no hope of a Saturday at such short notice, so we thought Friday, until we realised that Fridays are no cheaper and almost as popular as Saturdays. So Thursday it is.

I feel a bit guilty about asking people to take TWO days off work, because we're getting married three hours drive from where most of our friends live and it'll mean an overnight stay, but so far no one has complained (or not to my face, anyway ?). We are getting married quite late in the day, so that people with a long drive will be able to get there easily. It's also in the school holidays, so no worries for teachers.

Some friends of mine got married a few years ago on a Wednesday, in Cornwall, with most of the guests travelling from London. Turns out they can't come to our wedding - because they're going to another one on the same day. I don't think weekday weddings are as uncommon as they used to be.

I would like to disagree with this. My friend is a teacher and couldn't attend a wedding of a good friend because her school just wouldn't allow it. You have to write to the governors and have it authorised.

Anyway, on the positive, given enough notice I'm sure most could get the time off. Some people just might have to use a day from their holidays and it is how your guests would feel about this.

I'm a friday bride too. I can't remember why I chose a friday! I gave everyone a years notice so they have had plenty of time to sort something. The only issues are that it's the last day of the school term so our nieces and nephews have had to ask permission to miss it (though being the last day it's not a proper learning day) Plus my friend who works as a school assistant had to really fight for the day off (it's in her contract that she's not allowed a day off during term time)

I don't think it will be much of a problem if you give enough notice. Plus it will probably save you lots of money

I'm a Thursday bride. My sister is a childminder and works all term times, sister in law works in a school. Booked the wedding in the Easter holidays so they will be off. Our wedding is still a long time away so I've told all our guests what day it's on and not one person has said anything but something similar to "oh good, a long weekend!" It's saving us £2000.

i work weekends as I'm a vet nurse so I could quite easily moan about wedding being mostly on a Saturday, I wouldn't ever do that though. The way I see it is that if people really want to be there then they will be. Same as I would make it to a Saturday wedding if I wanted to be there.

Teachers are allowed 1 day of leave for the wedding of immediate family. You can ask for time off unpaid for other weddings, it is then up to the governors if they want to give you the day. I am MOH for my friend next year her wedding is likely to be a weekday. I have already spoken to my head who has said I can take the day unpaid. That said I am one of the governors so will be there when they discuss my letter. I'm having a Friday wedding in the summer holidays, the only thing that was cheaper was the venue.

I'm a Friday bride. It saved us £500 on room hire and there was a minimum guest list of 70 day and 120 night for a Saturday and we only wanted 45 and 100 so its saves us probably a good £1k on food and drink. We don't have that kind of money, and we did consider how easy it would be for our guests and no one has said they can't make it. I always book my days off for a wedding, only do it once! And a lot of my friends work Saturdays so it don't make no difference to them... Oh and our photographer gave us a bigger album for the same price because its a Friday so make sure you ask for discounts, even though they are becoming a popular day...p>

We're having a Friday wedding. It's no cheaper, we just like the idea of spending the whole weekend with our family and friends A few years ago one of our friends had a Friday wedding and we all met up again on the Saturday and it was great, so we wanted to do the same thing. Lots of our guests have booked accommodation for the whole weekend, I'm so pleased!

A lot of our friends are teachers or lecturers, and so far no-one has been unable to get time off (just 4 RSVPs to come). We sent out Save the Dates a year in advance, and our date is the last day of a half-term holiday, so I guess that all helps.

Can't comment on supplier availability, we're having a M&S cake and not having a professional photographer or florist.

I'm having a Friday wedding, it saved us about £1500 and meant we could have our Devon honeymoon begin immediately on the Saturday. It's worth it, definitely!

MrsStobe13 x

We're getting married on a Friday. It was cheaper & there were no minimum numbers like there are on a Saturday. I gave a years notice to the day guests.

I don't think it's selfish. Like someone else said, a lot of people work weekends & would have to take the day off to go to a Saturday wedding.

Thanks everyone for this advice. We have spoken to a few of our guests and it seems Friday won't be too much of an inconvenience, so that's useful

I love the idea, of a friday wedding ;-)

Lannyb27 makes a good point about children too. I would definitely not take my child out of school to attend a wedding, but that might be a good thing in terms of the guest list!

Ours is on bank holiday Monday, it was at least £3000 cheaper as we paid for a normal weekday without a surcharge. We have sent save the dates more than a year in advance and are only having 60 odd people who are close family and close friends anyway so I know they will make the effort anyway. I don't get the fuss about weekday weddings , there are lots of people who work shifts too and it will be easier for them to attend a weekday wedding. On my guest list there are midwives, retail workers, nursing home cleaner, pharmacist, railway worker, nurses etc.

There's provision made for school staff to attend close family weddings but aside from that it's the head teacher's discretion and would normally mean time off without pay *if* you got permission to have the day off.

Having just moved from shift work that involved working weekends back to working in schools I can see both sides! I think if the majority of your guests would normally be working on whatever day you choose to have your wedding you have to be prepared that they might not come. We've chosen a Saturday and we've only got a handful of guests who normally work Saturdays; I'm pretty sure all the day guests will be fine - most can swap shifts rather than have to use up leave but I'm prepared for a couple of evening guests not to make it.