Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Saving Big With a Friday Wedding

Stephen and I, like most couples, started out envisioning a classic Saturday evening wedding. But when we started researching reception venues, we were stunned by the Friday vs. Saturday price differences, especially when it came to the food and beverage minimums we would have to hit for the night.

Booking the wedding on a Friday is now one of the best decisions we’ve made so far. First, we saved big at our venue with an upfront minimum that was a full $3,000 lower than the Saturday fee. Would you believe that the Saturday minimum is nearly double the Friday price? On top of that, the golf course offered us a 10 percent discount on catering, which will all be done onsite, saving us both time and money.


By scheduling on a Friday, we also got discounts of 10-15 percent from nearly all our vendors. Those savings may not sound like much initially, but I was surprised at how quickly it all added up, especially for the more expensive vendors on our list, such as our $3,000 photographer.

And since so many guests will be traveling out of town anyway in order to come, we think Friday won’t be a huge inconvenience. The added bonus? Getting married on Friday lets us leave the very next morning for our Hawaiian honeymoon cruise!

I’ll share a full breakdown of our budget and savings soon, but for now I want to know, do you like weddings that aren’t held on Saturday, or do you think they’re a major hassle? Are you hoping to save money by planning a weekday or Sunday wedding?

(Photo Credit: Google Images)

7 comments:

  1. You can save huge on a Friday or Sunday wedding -- one place we were looking at went from $20K for a Saturday wedding to $8K for a Friday wedding!

    I think the hassle factor depends on the location/closeness of the relationship -- for one Friday wedding nearby, it wasn't too bad because it just meant getting out of work a bit early. For one that I would have had to travel, it was an excuse not to go, since I would have had to take Thursday and Friday off.

    I think every wedding (and guest) is different, and you just have to see what works for you.

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  2. That's a huge savings!! We saved $3,000 at our venue also by having our wedding on a Wednesday. It did prevent some people from coming but since it's a destination wedding we figure most people coming down will stay for the week anyway. YAY for saving!!!

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  3. You already know about me. Mr Fix It wanted a Saturday event and I already knew from my past wedding planning experience that Friday was the way to go. Especially for the venue we selected. On Saturdays and Sundays, they require you to use their preferred caterer. The quote we got from them for rental items and food for 180 guests was $24,000!!!! The venue rental fee would have been about $5,000 or $6,000 for the Saturday on top of the catering costs. By switching to a Friday, we were able to bring in an outside caterer. Granted, we still had to pay $6,500 for the venue rental fee because they charge more if you bring in an outside caterer (they originally asked for $8,000 and we negotiated down to $6,500). But the final cost we are paying to our outside caterer for UPGRADED rental items and way more included with the food (like a chocolate fountain, cake, unlimited sodas, champagne toast, etc) is only around $12,500. Less than HALF of what they would have charged us.

    So the savings are for sure much better by going Friday because like you, we also got way better deals on the vendors like photog, videog, DJ, etc. In addition, it’s cheaper for guests to fly in on a Thursday and leave on a Sunday (they’ll hang out with us on Saturday before we leave that night for our h-moon) and they’ll stay later on a Friday evening because they can sleep in on Saturday. We had lots of guests that are church goers and so a Saturday night affair would have guaranteed lots leaving early for the next morning’s service.

    I am all about the Fridays! And believe it or not, it is so not unusual for guests to take off the work day or leave a few hours early to make it to your event. So don’t let that be a deterrent!

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  4. I've been to a Sunday wedding which wasn't a big deal b/c it was local. Never been to a Friday night wedding. I think my main issue with not wanting a Friday night wedding especially in the DC area is that traffic is horrible on Fridays and I was worried that the guests or even we would be late b/c of it.

    I actually found that some venues/vendors charged more on a Sunday which surprised me. One place said it's b/c Sunday's aren't a typical work day for their staff so they have to pay them overtime.

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  5. I'm all about saving some money. Ohh your cruise sounds amazing!

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  6. This is great advice. I think too many brides feel they have to have a wedding on a Saturday but there are so many benefits to having your wedding in off seasons and off peak days. We are having ours on a Sunday and save a bunch of money on the venue. We also got a discount on rentals for having a winter wedding.

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  7. wow that's awesome you get to save a lot of money!! I didn't really notice that anything was cheaper on the weekdays here in NM. I am sure certain places are but our venue is owned by the City so nothing changes as far as pricing for certain days.

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