Monday Wedding

Monday is a funny day as most people will have to take time off work & also have to be up early for work the next day.

Also if you have people who are travelling to the wedding they will have to have 2 days off.

Hi i think if you can give guests plenty on notice the people who want to be there will be, i think it is quite common these days that weddings can happen on any day, perhaps have the ceremony early in the day? evening guests may have to leave a little early or they may choose to try to take the day off again if you can give people a bit of notice.

Try to remember that it is your and your OH day and the start of the rest of your lives together and this is a decision that you have made together so please try not to worry too much about others, if a close family or friend of mine got married mid week i would make a real effort to attend

x

Hi, when is your wedding? Obviously people will have to take time off work, but if you give them plenty of notice I'm sure it won't be a problem. Maybe send save the dates out asap?

I realise this is not what you asked and may not be helpful at all, but could you get a Saturday wedding that isn't at 5pm if you waited until next year or something like that? A weekend wedding was important to us because we have big families, we want them all there and didn't want to have to ask them all to take time off. (I realise some people work weekends but the majority of people work Monday-Friday in our family.) Even so a couple of people can't make it! (We are getting married in June and sent our save-the-dates out in our Christmas 2010 cards.)

In the past couple of years I've done an increasing number of mid week weddings. I don't know whether its a Northern Ireland thing but most of them are still going strong at 1.00am!

Why is 5pm too late?

Ceremony 5.00 - 5.30pm

Photos 5.30pm - 6.30pm tops

Speeches 6.30pm - 7.15pm

Cake cutting 7.15pm

First dance 7.30pm

Evening buffet 8.30pm

Shutdown - whenever the venue allows it.

A 5pm quite possibly means you don't have to have an expensive (and in my opinion unnecessary) wedding breakfast; if you're worried about lighting for photography does the venue have nice indoor places - or does your photographer have good lighting and can be creative outdoors?

People can eat before the ceremony then you don't have to feed them twice. Could save you thousands of pounds.

What's the venue, and is there a reason 5pm is the only time available - ever? What time of year were you thinking of? You say the venue is important - is there a specific reason for that venue alone, or are there alternatives nearby?

That sounds good on paper but it never runs to time. A wedding should be relaxed but that sounds more like a military operation especially if you have a large amount of people to manage.

Which is more important to you - having the venue you want or having the people that you love sharing your day with you?

Might sound a bit harsh but I think this is the basic question you need to ask yourself before you proceed.

We have about 120 coming - and it will be like a military operation, because that's what we are like - the day will be planned and everything will go exactly as we expect it to, where we expect it to be, and when we expect it to be happening.

Still trying to source some electric cattle prods for the ushers to hurry people up between the various parts of the day. Must check Ebay.

Don't expect too much! Believe me any timings will be a guide & not go exactly to the timings you have written down.

Hmmmm, I think with a Monday wedding you are going to make sacrifices - it's not the cheapest day of the week to get married on for nothing, you must have to 'give something up'. I don't think people will have a problem taking the day off (for the most part, but you may sacrifice three or four people who either can't make it or just aren't willing to take time off work, for whatever reason).

When it comes to the evening guests, people are much less likely to come along on a Monday night in my opinion - espesh if it's a long journey - as they will have come from work and will be looking forward to a week of work ahead, and if they do come it may only be for an hour or so, but I am sure it will still be lovely to see them etc, so it may be worth working this into your planning - could you invite loads of day guests with the money you've saved on having a Monday wedding? That way the evening will still feel fairly busy.

Sooooo, I think you may have to accept your wedding might not have that 'party' atmosphere, but if that's not important to you then go for it! Not having a party that goes on until 1am doesn't mean it won't be a lovely wedding, but you have to decide what's important to you on your day.

We are getting married on a Friday (similar issues with the venue on the Saturday, in that it was already booked up!) but I was happy to compromise here because not only did I save about £2000 (yippee!) I also knew that if people took the Friday off work, they would still have the whole weekend to enjoy so they wouldn't worry about having to get to work the next day. In fact, lots of our guests are talking about having a long weekend in a hotel/guest house over the weekend of the wedding as the village we are getting married in is really beautiful and quaint.

I would never had considered a Monday wedding as, for me, having a party is really important and I just wouldn't want to give that 'weekend' feeling up - Friday was a compromise, but as we were saving so much money and it meant we could still have the perfect venue, it was a compromise I was prepared to make.

We are having a Monday wedding! We have invited 130 People and so far have had acceptances from 105 people. We still have a few that are to come back and some have rsvped to say they cant come. I think the reason we have a high acceptance is because we lots of people a year or so's notice we sent out save the dates at the end of last August.

I say if you love the venue and the Monday suits you and your OH then go for it!!! If the people want to attend your wedding then they will make the effort to be there. many people now work weekends and would have to take time off if was a weekend wedding anyway!!!

Thanks all for replying. We get married in May 2012, I've bought save the date cards so hopefully this will give people plenty of notice! Its also my dads birthday on our wedding date which is another reason why it was so important to us! Will get the cards sent asap. Thanks to cheeky-pie! Pleased to know there are others out there having a Monday wedding! Has made me feel much better! Thanks all! x

Monday weddings.... my friend had hers on a monday. Quite a few people did pull out. I don't know if it was a bit too close to Christmas. It was a great wedding though the people that she really wanted to come did!!

I got married at 15.30. I would say pick the 17.00 one if you want everyone there. This is not late at all. I got as many photos as possible taken before hand (minus Mr W) and this saved on time. People where so drunk by midnight loads of people left early. Had we married at 13.oo the place would have been empty by 22.00!!!!

If the bar is until 01.00 then I would go for the Sat at 17.00.

Enjoy your planning!! xxx