Opinions on a Friday night wedding?

We are hosting a Friday night wedding. I do expect some people to not be able to attend because of this, but I also feel like many guests are super excited because it's the start of the weekend and makes the party part a bit more fun as you mentioned!

I would try to avoid getting too stressed out over it- if people want to attend the wedding they will make the effort to do so!

I would advise trying to make the day start later for guests also due to work and whatnot.

Our ceremony starts at 5:30 and the reception begins at 6:30, with dinner served at 7:30.

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Thank you! This made me feel much better! My wedding start times are about the same as yours, ceremony at 5:30, reception starts at 6:30. And I'm staying local in my home state where 99% of the guest list lives anyway

Friday weddings are extremely common with 99% attendance regardless of the time of day. People do have plenty of advance notice to schedule time off work to attend with no issues. Guests love to kick off the weekend with a party and prefer them to Sunday weddings. Be aware that many venues and vendors do not give discounts for Fridays because those are just as popular as Saturdays.

I have attended a Friday night wedding, but it started much later in the evening to accommodate people who had to work- ceremony was 7:00-7:30, then went straight into the reception (instead of a cocktail hour). We were eating by 8:00, then drinking and dancing til midnight. There was a great turn out and it was a totally party vibe!

I am intentionally planning a Friday wedding! Most of our guests have not visited the town where our wedding will be. So we wanted to do the wedding on Friday, to give our guests time to explore the area on Saturday, before heading home on Sunday. So far, we have not had any complain to us about the date or decline due to it being a Friday. I've also previously attended Friday weddings, and they were all fantastic! I would suggest starting the ceremony a little later, since many of your guests will likely be working that day. Otherwise, I think a Friday wedding is a great idea!

If you do a Friday wedding I would suggest starting the ceremony around 6pm that way your guest won't have to take off a full day of work. They'll either just take a half day or work their normal shift. I think that a Friday wedding will be just as fun as a Saturday wedding.

We had our wedding on a Friday. 4:00pm ceremony and reception immediately following. It was a blast. Everyone stayed until the end and seemed to be having a great time.

My fiancé and I are planning a friday wedding! 5:30 ceremony, and then reception until 11. I was hesitant at first too, but we ultimately opted for Friday because the venue didn’t have the space we wanted on a Saturday. The discounted costs were also a plus. So far, everyone I’ve spoken with (we’re inviting 90 guests, most know our date, and the save the dates are going out later this month) is totally fine with Friday! They’re also excited to have the rest of the weekend to do other things!

To me Friday is the weekend. You still have time to live it up and recover the next day. Heck I took a day off work to travel for a Friday wedding, I got married on a Sunday and been to a Sunday wedding and my friend is getting married on a Thursday. Anyone that loves you will be there no matter what.

Side note...It seems like you are worried about guests not showing up. I think you are fine but do not determine the wonderfulness of your wedding based on guests. I see many brides worry themselves about that and it does not matter. Best to have those that love and truly support you on the day of your wedding which will be about you two.

We are doing a Friday wedding but we actually wanted Friday as our forts choice—not just for discount reasons but also because we wanted to be able celebrate and spend time with people the next day. Doing a Friday night wedding means we also can visit with people all day Saturday (we are making a weekend out fo it actually) so every guest has time with us instead of people rushing home the next day. It also means everyone has some recovery time from the party before the week ahead for work haha


Don’t be anxious! People will come! People will have fun! It’s going to be the best day!

We are having a Friday wedding and I've been to MANY Friday weddings and all of them started at different times! Ours is going to start at 4:00 so most people will still be able to work half a day and then just come after. I've been to ones earlier and later in the day though and I will say I've never had an issue with attending a Friday wedding. All of the weddings I've attended on Fridays have still had almost all of their guests show up as well. People really don't mind taking a Friday off and starting out their weekend early, so I don't think you need to stress!

Yes ma'am. Been to one and I'm having one. Plenty of guests came and did not leave early

Friday weddings are a blast! It was nice to have a whole weekend to recover afterwards too. Only problem I have ever had was making it to the ceremony on time, depending how far it was.

Hello! I’m a September 10th 2021 Friday night bride in Los Angeles aka rush hour traffic nightmare and I’m not freaking out. Don’t worry about it, people will have a great time on a Friday night! Over 70% of my guest list is from the east coast so they were going to be in California on a Friday anyway. We saved 16,000 dollars by having a Friday wedding instead of a Saturday wedding. Some of the things we considered were our guest list and occupations of people attending. We realized that most of our guests don’t work 9-5 jobs so making a Friday 5pm ceremony was doable. We also realized that a lot of guests appreciated a Friday night wedding because they don’t have to wake up early, hung over to catch a flight home. They can have Saturday to recharge and explore the city. Think of a Friday night wedding as a kickoff to the weekend. Try having your ceremony as late as possible to make up for your 9-5ers and give people a lot of time to plan. Also, expect some people to only attend the reception if they can’t make the ceremony. Have a great time!

Friday night bride here!! We married at 4pm and luckily we had no issues with guests attending a Friday night wedding!! ❤️

If you plan to start your wedding at 6:00 p.m. or later, most guests should be able to make it regardless of work (unless they are out of town guests, obviously). Are you sending save the dates? That will let your guests enough advance notice to either request off of work or request to leave early. Don't stress about it. Your wedding will still be fun!

I think friday night is fine! people have the weekend to recover