Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're trying to plan a small weekday wedding in early November as we really want to marry this year. Problem is, most guests have children and work, obviously. Is this a terrible idea? Its the only way we can afford our venue.

Both my weddings were on weekdays for the same reason. A Monday and a Thursday. I backed both up against holidays. No hard feelings if people couldn't make it. Only person I missed was a friend whose flight was canceled.

You may not have had any hard feelings towards your guests, but i guarantee they had hard feelings against you. They just didn't tell you.

Are people really that upset if they couldn't make it to a friend or distant relative's wedding? I can understand if it's your bestie or sister, but the rest of the basketball team? The girl who was your housemate senior year? They are so upset over missing a 20 min ceremony, an overpriced chicken dinner, and buttercream frosting that they hold it against the bride?

The older I get, the less I care if I miss weddings, but I would think the couple would want max turnout. Otherwise, they could really save money and just invite 15 people and be done with it.

I just attended a local wedding for Sat. I still had to find babysitters as all family were at the reception themselves.
If I were an out of town guest I might be less likely to attend. But for local, I would adjust.

Incidentally I am originally from Korea. We have weddings there every single night. The whole event is shorter than in the US, maybe 2-3 hours with meal/reception. But it happens every day. People don't think twice about going to a wedding on a Tue.

OP, look into a Sunday lunch or brunch wedding. It's usually much cheaper than Sat or Sun night, and people find them fun. We had a Sunday lunch wedding in 2009 with 110 people, and it was 10K all told.

Friday is ok if it's your only option, but the other weekdays are much worse.

This is like buying a designer gown and then making your friends eat McDonald's because you have no more money.

Your venue could be the National Cathedral with a reception at a swanky embassy, and I'd still be bummed about a weekday.

Get a more affordable venue and a Saturday wedding.

Hands down.

I just went to a Thursday night wedding. But turn out, 100 or so people. But, everyone left pretty early, not that much dancing as people had to get home. Also, kids were invited, so that helped with babysitters.

The annoying thing about this is that OP straight up said they're doing this venue because it's cheaper. If OP had some random religious reasons that they had to get married on a wednesday night, i'd roll with it. But finding out that the couple picked wed night and a crappier wedding just to save cash? I'll skip the wedding.

OP here. The venue is a small hotel in Old Town Alexandria. We are thinking small (50 people) gathering of closest friends and family, most of whom are local. 4:30 pm ceremony. 5-6 reception; 7-9 dinner 10 - 11 dancing. Not a big wedding.

50 people is not a small number of guest so trying to do some hybrid of an intimate wedding with reception/dinner and dancing won't work. No one will want to dance from 10-11 on a weeknight. If I was invited and I have kids, we would leave midway through dinner just as the cake was cut just to get home for kids to get in bed with a decent chance of getting up for school the next morning. 4:30 start is also pretty awful because it means leaving work early, getting kids directly from school and driving straight to the wedding. That is a lot of disruption.