As the summer finally kicks off and wedding season gets underway, this year I’ve noticed something different. Instead of discussing with friends which Saturdays are out for BBQs, birthday celebrations and weekends away because of weddings, the discussion has focused on whether we all have enough annual leave left over after all the weekdays lost to the strongest emerging trend in nuptials – the weekday wedding.
With the average cost of a UK wedding now comfortably over £20,000
every saving counts and the easiest way to save some serious money without compromising on the wedding of the bride’s dreams is to have it on a day other than Saturday. In the past, a wedding in the week was a rarity but now, with it representing savings which can run into the thousands, it’s becoming more and more popular to get married on a Friday or even a Thursday.
But can you expect friends and family to take a day off work to attend your ceremony?
With accommodation, travel, the stag or hen night and the gift, it now costs several hundred pounds just to attend a wedding – and those free bars are a thing of the past too. So, is it asking too much to expect to cost them a day of their annual leave as well?
Personally I wouldn’t have considered a weekday wedding.
I want as many people to be able to make it to my ceremony as possible and can’t bare the idea that anyone would be there begrudgingly or have to leave early to get home for work the next day. In fact, we’ve gone for a bank holiday Sunday to allow people a day both before and after the wedding to travel, recuperate and generally fit our big day into their lives. Of course close family and friends will gladly give up a day in the office for your wedding if they can but what about those who really can’t, teachers for example? And what about those more distant friends and relatives who might not think it worth the effort?
Of course you could argue that anyone unwilling to take a day off work to celebrate with you isn’t worth inviting in the first place.
But what if your guests already have a handful of weekday weddings to fit into the office holiday schedule? What if they live far enough away to need to travel the day before and therefore take two days off work? What if you happen to coincide with your best friend’s company’s AGM or something unforeseen but ultimately unmissable?
In the end...
I decided that a weekday wedding presented more problems than it solved but I know many people who would vehemently disagree. Am I foolish to spend the extra for a weekend wedding? Or is a Saturday wedding ultimately the most sensible thing to do?
