Thursday Evening Wedding

Thursday weddings are inconvenient to your guests. Most people work during the week and may be late to your wedding and leave early since they will have work the next day. Guests may decide not to come as well. Have your wedding on the weekend and be considerate to your guests.

I'd attend a local Thursday wedding if it ended by 10.

If it was in the summer and local, I would consider it. Any other time of the year and I wouldn't be able to do it. Not worth the hassle.

We're having 1. With far advanced notice, I think it's fine. For many reasons, we didn't want Fri - Sun.

Did someone say Thursday wedding?

My sister got married last year on a Thursday and the venue was completely full. No one seemed to complain about it. I think with enough notice, your guests would be OK with it.

I guess it would depend on what time the wedding was starting, if I was a guest. I wouldn't be willing to take a Thursday and Friday off for someone else's wedding. If your ceremony was at like 8pm, and people could get home from work, get ready and go maybe. But even that sounds exhausting for a guest. I'd lean towards a Friday if I was doing a week day, personally.

Have you talked to your bridal party and close family to see what they think? Since they'd be the ones that it would affect most, I'd get their thoughts and go from there. You don't want the most important people to not be able to come!

I would personally attend and take off that Friday to extend my weekend if only one person is out of town definitely go for it!

If anyone I loved was getting married, any day of the week, I'd make it work.

We are getting married on a Thursday. We figure the people that want to be there will come.

Thursday is the new Friday here. We do them most weeks in season, and the guest count isn't wildly different than any other night; people DO go out on nights besides Friday and Saturday. The pricing is usually much less, making a more extravagant party within reach.

If it's not worth taking the afternoon or the day off, you simply say no, but this hasn't been my experience.

@Bri, please don't listen to Natalie. In my part of the world (NYC), a Saturday wedding during peak season can cost $200 pp, and ain't nobody got time for that. Here are some things you may want to keep in mind:

- Be realistic that you may have a higher rate of declines. Notice I said "may". As Jessica mentioned, her sister's Thursday wedding was full. You never know which way the wind will blow with these sort of things.

- With that being said, don't get upset when (or if) you start getting declines. I mean you can, but don't take it out on anyone lol.

- Send out your STDs 6-8 months in advance. Especially if it's during a holiday weekend (like my wedding is).

- Host your guests properly (plenty of food, and alcoholic beverages).

- Have a kick-ass DJ.

- Have your ceremony/reception at the same location.

- DON'T BE LATE!

Our wedding is the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend, and we invited 177. Our wedding isn't inconvenient for the many guests who are retired, for those who don't work Monday-Friday, for those who work/live within 15 minutes of the venue, or for those who don't work past 6pm. If it is, they can decline - they have that option.

To give you an idea, our ceremony begins at 7pm, cocktail hour 7:30pm, reception 8:30pm-12:30am. Everything is in one location, and the hotel I'm getting ready at the night before is on the other side of the bushes (for my WW bishes who will be coming to the wedding). For guests arriving early, from 6-7pm they have hospitality hour, so they aren't starving or thirsty. I'm offering my guests so much cocktail hour food, they are going to think dinner isn't being served. Dinner is a four-course meal with TEN entree choices (including duck a l'orange - yea bitch), and two desserts, which doesn't include the wedding cake (two different flavors). It's premium open bar all night, and the venue is creating two signature drinks for us. And of course, I have an amazing DJ.

If you host the fuck out of your guests, they'll totally forget they attended a Thursday night wedding, so make that shit worthwhile. Then, don't forget to send those who gave you a gift a handwritten note to seal the deal (try to do it ASAP).

Lastly, I REALLY wish people would stop acting like we are putting a gun to our guests heads to force them to attend our weddings. There's this thing called an RSVP, and it has this line on it that says accepts with pleasure, or declines with regrets. Guests have the option to not come, whether it's a Thursday wedding, or a Saturday wedding.

If the wedding is local, I would definitely attend a Thursday wedding (I will be in the bushes at @GymRat's wedding, for example).

If I need to travel, whether I'd attend would depend on whether I'd be willing to take a day off from work, but that's often an issue for Friday or Sunday weddings, too.

Not really a fan of this idea. You are saving a ton of money because nobody wants to go to a weekday wedding. At least with a Friday wedding people have the next day off. A Thursday wedding means leaving work early to attend and leaving the wedding early to be able to wake up and go to work again the next day. Or having to take off the day after. As a guest I would be annoyed that you picked a Thursday and would not want to come. If you were immediate family or a best friend I would attend.

My goodness GymRat, your wedding sounds incredible!

I am actually getting married on a Thursday and I think it's perfectly fine.

@Miami - if venues knew that no one would want to attend a Thursday wedding, it wouldn't be offered because it wouldn't be worth their time or money. Our venue doesn't offer Monday-Wednesday weddings (unless it's a holiday on the Monday), because guess what? They know no one is attending a mid-week wedding. Also, you do realize not everyone works Monday-Friday, right?

Lastly, if you were annoyed about a Thursday wedding, then you wouldn't be a guest, because you'd decline. Right? Exactly.

eta: Thank you Paige. You can come hide in the bushes too lol.

The people who want to be there will get there, I think, especially if you give them enough notice. Your third cousin twice removed may not come but I'm sure your best friend will do everything in their power to be there for you!

Although I love Celia, personally, I don't think Thursday is the new Friday (but her profession is different than mine). I've never been asked to professionally accommodate a Thursday wedding, but I have no doubt that she has -- multiple times.

So, here's my personal, not professional, take on Thursday night weddings. I'd ask my husband to leave work early on Thursday so that he's home around 2:00 PM. Then, we do everything one needs to do to prepare to attend a formal wedding and pull out of the driveway an hour before the wedding (give or take). We'd show up on time, but I'd know that I'm watching the clock because while my schedule is flexible, his isn't. If he needs to leave the house by 5:30 AM, we're going to be leaving at 9:30 PM, at the latest.

We'll have a great meal, great cocktails, socialize with the people we love, leave the same gift we would if it were a Saturday evening wedding, but I know it won't feel like Friday or Saturday wedding. Is that a big deal? Only if you want a pair of middle aged married people to hang out until midnight -- which you probably don't.

I'll say what I took from the advice that was given to me six months ago when I was considering a thrusday wedding... if it is important to you for your family and friends to be there, don't do it. Opt for a Friday or Sunday, so your guests can come and enjoy.