Thursday weddings anymore awkward than a Friday?

That is absolutely preposterous - the registrar can't *make* you have a 30-45 minute ceremony. The legal declarations take all of 5 minutes, and they can't force you to do more than that.

Anyway, that's just me getting on my high horse, and is irrelevant. The issue is that they are charging you £150 rather than £45, which they can get away with.

Personally, in your situation, I'd consider doing the Thursday ceremony, and keeping the Friday wedding, if the £105 difference is important in the budget. It makes sod all odds that there is a day difference in it. The anniversary is celebrated by you each year, and tbh, no one other than the parents care about anyone's anniversaries until they've been married for 50 years, so it'll not come up again until you're a pensioner.

Yes, if I was invited to your wedding and was a 'general' type guest, I might leave at 10pm on a Thursday if I had to go to work the next day. Plus I wouldn't drink quite so much, although I'd still totally throw myself into the party spirit ? If I was a bestie of yours, I'd take Friday off work, and party the night away with you. I recently went to a Sunday wedding, and saw a lot of people sneak off around 10pm.

If it was for me, I'd just do the legal bit the day before. I can see why you want the dates to match though.

Thursday weddings are becoming more popular as brides look for ways to cut the costs. You might even find better deals if you move to the Thursday. Your day will be fab whatever day it's on!

Unfortunately we had the same trouble ☹️

Our venue was un- licenced for marriages at the time we booked so we were going to do the legal bit 2 days before (the anniversary of the date we met) However when it came to booking they told us they will only allow us to have a basic ceremony on a Tuesday at either 9:15 am or 9:45am! We found the same when we enquired at another registry office, except there it was Thursdays at 10:20am only.

It sucks, but rules are rules I guess

Is it an absolute must for you to have the legalities and wedding on the same day?

I guess it's not a must but what date do you celebrate your anniversary? Wedding day or legal day?

As a non-teacher, Yes Thursdays are more awkward. We went to a wedding last year which was a Thursday wedding and in NI so it involved 3 days off work (we travelled there on the Wednesday and came back on the Friday). We treated it like a bit of a mini-break and luckily our jobs are very flexible on holidays and when we can take them but 3 days of my precious annual leave is quite a big ask in my opinion which is why we opted for a Saturday wedding, we had discussed beforehand a Friday wedding if Saturday availability was an issue but luckily for us at our chosen venue (the wedding coordinator couldn't believe it when she checked availability for us!) the Saturday of the August bank holiday was the only Friday or Saturday free in the whole month and we put our names down for it straight away!

I think doing the legal bit the day before and having the wedding on the Friday would work fine. No one but you will really know anyway.

We're getting married on a Thursday, it doesn't seem to be causing any issues for our guests, we are of the opinion that if people want to come, they will come regardless

We're getting married on a Thursday, it doesn't seem to be causing any issues for our guests, we are of the opinion that if people want to come, they will come regardless

We're getting married on a Friday and apart from my sister being a complete pain in the backside about it, everyone is fine, and I can't see that if it was the Thursday rather than the Friday it would be a lot different. People can take the Friday off and make a long weekend of it if they want :-)

I personally would find it slightly more awkward than a Friday but only because I'd want the next day off to recover so would need to book 2 days rather than just the one day if it was a Friday.

Saying that, I would 100% do it for any of my friends and family because I'd want to be there to share their day.

I do find it odd that they only do certain ceremonies on certain days. Very strange, but I know these things vary from county to county.

Thursdays are no more awkward and in all the Thursday weddings I have shot, I haven't seen people leave earlier than any other day.

This^^^^^^^^^^ Thursday weddings seems to be catching up with Friday weddings for 2015? well it seems that way for my 2015 weddings they are neck & neck with 2-2?

We'll be celebrating our anniversary on the day of the "wedding". The paperwork signing legal bit is, to us, in this case just a bit of a formality that we have to do for it to be legal. We're having a ceremony of our own at the wedding a couple of days later. All vows etc will be saved for then.

Ours is a Thursday wedding. We have booked it in the Easter holidays so that my nieces, nephews and sil can be there but not one person has batted an eyelid when we said what day it's on. I'm of the same option as another poster, if people want to come they will. Just be aware that some people may not be able to make mid week.

Ah, the age old quote that really gets my goat! Some people do not have the option of attending a wedding (on any day of the week) due to their job/finances/family etc it does not mean that they don't 'want to come'

OP for me as a regular 9-5er yes a Thursday would be more awkward as I'd have to book 2 days off work. But only you know your guests and whether or not it would be a problem for them. I think just give people enough notice and you shouldn't have a problem.

Another thing to bear in mind is how far your guests need to travel, if they are all local then they wouldn't need to consider having the day before off too but if any of them need to travel a distance they may need to consider staying the night before too.

We are getting married on the Thursday before Easter so that when OH's family travel over from France he won't have to take so many holidays from work to spend time with his family, as we will have the long bank holiday off together. I am a teacher and most of our friends are teachers too, the few who aren't have all been ok with the date as it's Good Friday the day after anyway. P x

Have you asked the register office if you can pay the full ceremony fee but only have a short ceremony? Surely it's just the fee they are bothered about. I can't see why they would insist on you having a full-on ceremony.

There's the extra cost too, our budget is very tight so the extra £100 would be a big deal to us.

With regards to those travelling, they are either teachers, a bridesmaid who said she'd be down for the week anyway or distant family I don't actually want there but inviting them would keep the family quiet... Lol

I've been to two Thursday weddings I think and didn't make much difference, other than I took 2 days off work instead of 1. The only thing that put me off (could have got out venue for £1000 less ?) was people not coming in the evening due to just finishing work, going to work the next day etc, but if all your friends are happy then I don't see a problem at all.

I'm going to be getting married on a Thursday too.

I'm a teacher and lots of my friends are involved in education in some way.... sorry the summer holidays are the best for us. We will also be inviting lots of children so don't need to worry about getting them ready for bed. If our guests aren't in education then they are mostly shift workers so even if we had it on a Saturday they might still have to book time off.

I'm also of the opinion that if your guests want to be there they will.

Hth

Xxx

it doesn't get my goat per se but i understand why some people, yourself included, get annoyed with the 'if they want they will' way of thinking.

one friend was denied his brothers wedding off by his boss and he was supposed to be best man!!! work just couldn't spare him at that time of year and he couldn't have the day. he arrived at 9pm

another friend had already been told that any holiday in december would be denied so he threw a sickie.....his boss found out and he was threatened with dismissal, given an official warning and lost his £1500 christmas bonus!!

to the OP, in all genuine honesty it would make me leave a tiny bit earlier than i normally would BUT i have two children to look after and get up for the next day so i'm guessing i'm not your target audience anyways.

you and your h2b know YOUR wedding and you know what will be best for you. whatever happens, whoever comes, the main people will be there (you and h2b!!), you will finish the day married and you will have an amazing day because it will be YOUR wedding!!

have a beautiful day hun! x

We're also getting married on a Thursday as we refused to get any more ripped off with venue hire than you already do. We are in love with our converted barn but it cost more than double for a Saturday than a Thursday. We looked into Friday but they are getting more like Saturday prices all of the time. I am a teacher as are lots of my friends and family and like others have said are having lots of children around so being the six weeks holiday will cause no problem for them. But if they are true friends they will come no matter what. If one of my friends chose not to come because they didn't want to book 2 days off work for my wedding then personally I wouldn't want them there anyway! x

Aah it's wonderful being ignored...

I didn't holey- even quoted you and everything!

That's what I was just going to say. I understand holeys point totally, but I didn't get the being ignored comment because of yo quoting her?!

sorry just had to comment there as I had frown lines lol xx

That's what I was just going to say. I understand holeys point totally, but I didn't get the being ignored comment because of yo quoting her?!

sorry just had to comment there as I had frown lines lol xx

I think you have to understand that some people cannot attend a wedding no matter what day it is. I suppose depending what sorts if jobs your guests have would be a huge decider- if your friends work in service type jobs then most likely whatever day you pick will cause issues as people work 7 days a week in theses sorts if roles.

if your friends are professional types who work Monday to Friday then perhaps a Saturday is better.

Either way- you won't please everyone. However Some people can't get time off- I would struggle based on my role to just bugger off to a friends wedding if it was a weekday, I can't always delegate the work I have to do. I would be bloody riled if someone was saying I 'couldn't be bothered' to go. How very rude and narrow minded.

Sorry miss winter I didn't mean you. It was more for the two posters that completely ignored what I'd said and quoted about friends not being friends or something

I guessed chicken

i understand things from both sides of the coin- it's a wedding- of course you want your loved ones all around and when you're wrapped up in wedding planning, spending insane amounts of money, it does feel like people 'aren't making the effort' or that they 'can't be bothered', i mean some studies suggest that wedding planning can cause types of mania! and we do feel and say things we wouldn't normally.

but on the flip side, i've been in the position, and i know of others (those cited in previous comment and others), who no matter what they WANT, simply cannot manage to come. not from a lack of trying or less care/concern, just because life sucks like that sometimes.

I'm sorry, but this is absolute rubbish!

I've invited my best friend to my wedding. I live in Kent, she lives in the Wirral and I'm getting married on a Monday. I knew before I sent the invitation that she wouldn't be able to come but I sent it so she could have a memento of my day. She has made and sent me a beautiful guestbook as her contribution and she will be enjoying the day vicariously through photographs.

She has two children who would have to take at least two days off school to attend - she's not a relative so this wouldn't be seen as exceptional circumstances. Also, she works in a hospital and getting days off for her is something that has to be organised with great difficulty, so is something she can only do in very exceptional circumstances.

Does any of this make her less of a true friend? Of course not!! She loves me and I love her and although I can't have her there in person, I know she will be thinking of me and my OH and wishing she could be.

OP, have your wedding whenever you wish, but if people can't make it, please be understanding and don't cut them off because of this kind of thinking.

I would struggle slightly more with a Thursday wedding as I would have to take two days' holiday instead of one and it's not always a given that I will be able to get the time off. If I have plenty of notice though it's usually fine. We're getting married on a Sunday meaning people will have to take the Monday off if they want some time to recover, but none to actually come to the wedding. We didn't do save the dates as we set the date at the end of Jan but we did get our invites out by March to try and give people as much notice as possible.

As previous posters have said, you know your guests and whilst some people may struggle, no date is going to work completely for everyone anyway.

This! I'm all for people having weddings any day they like but don't think any worse of people if they can't make it

Indeed, it's important not to fall into the trap of the belief that friends *should* allocate two or three days of their lives to your wedding, *should* use up two or three days of their precious annual leave from work, and *should* allocate a certain amount of their hard earned salary towards making the trip to your wedding.

It just doesn't work like that. The only people that *should* be doing that are members of the wedding party. Everyone else should be thanked for taking the trouble to do so.