We are in the early stages of planning a vow renewal for our 15th anniversary.
My
"dream" event is a brunch - ceremony at 11, over by 3. Maybe have some
other fun event later that our guests can join or not depending on their
preference.
Originally, my immediate choice was our actual wedding date - which happens to land on a Sunday on our 15th anniversary. This fit perfectly with the above. A Sunday brunch, then if we had something later (I was thinking something fun, like going bowling at an upscale alley) people could opt in or out depending how late they wanted to be out.
But I realized one big concern, and that is that the venue - our original wedding venue - is outside. And our anniversary is in July. And we live in Florida. And a brunch happens in the middle of the day.
So now I've been looking at alternative dates. I don't really want to pick a totally random date. I considered my birthday in March, which falls on a Friday, and I've looked at our dating anniversary in February, which lands on a Saturday.
Which would you, as a guest, be more likely to go to? A brunch on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, keeping in mind that the Sunday would be very hot? (I would do what I could to mitigate the heat, but there is only so much you can do.)
These were my own pros/cons for each date:
July (Sunday)
Pros:
our actual wedding date; day suits the event type perfectly; being a
Sunday, it leaves our friends open on Saturday either for more important
events (as I realize this is a vow renewal and therefore low on the
priority list) or for work (in the case of our gig worker friends)
Cons: hot, hot, hot; kids will be home, so we will have to handle that hurdle, as we wanted an adults-only event
March (Friday)
Pros:
venue is about $1000 cheaper than Saturday or Sunday; the date will be
cooler (by about 15-20 degrees, looking at historical data); still
leaves friends open for Saturday; in the case of friends who work a
standard work week, gives them an excuse to have a three-day weekend;
kids will be in school at the time, so easy to request no children, as
they'll be occupied
Cons: standard work day; will people even go to
an afternoon event on a Friday? (our guest list is already going to be
"micro" - probably 25-30 guests - so a high number of declines could
make things very weird?)
Neutral: evening event could go either way,
because on one hand people could be more inclined to go since they don't
have to get up Saturday morning, but also they might not join
since they would want to go home to their kids when they get home from
school; alternatively, we could say that the evening event was open to
children, since it would probably be something casual and family-fun
type like bowling
February (Saturday)
Pros: date will be
cooler; people may be more inclined to join us for some evening fun
afterwards knowing they don't have to get up the next day
Cons:
occupies our friends' Saturday; our dating anniversary is VERY close to
Valentine's Day, which could mean a struggle to book vendors; kids are
again a hurdle
If you read all of this, thank you. Just looking for thoughts.
