The Big Picture: Choosing a Date

Some things to consider when choosing a date:

In the Pacific Northwest, everyone wants to get married during the same 10 week span of time. This limits your vendors, your venue options, and makes it more likely that your guests will have "competing" weddings to choose from on the same days. If you go with a summer date, send out your Save the Dates early, and either plan on up to a 2 year planning period, or remain very flexible with what vendors and venues are available.

An off-season wedding usually means more vendor and venue availability, and often services are discounted. Personally, my husband and I are indoor people, and I've seen enough rain in July to know that an outdoor wedding was going to be a risk no matter what. We chose a date in February and an indoor venue, and had zero issues finding vendors that were available. Our florals were limited, and everyone got a little damp that day, but those were the only major drawbacks.

Often times it is cheaper to get married on a weekday or a Sunday, and you will likely have better vendor availability on days besides Saturday. There are benefits and drawbacks to weekday or Sunday weddings that should be considered before choosing your date:

First, Friday and weekday weddings will likely give you a smaller price tag, but you are putting the onus of responsibility to take time off from work on all of your guests. You know your guest list best, and this may be a totally fine consideration for your guests to make - especially in countries that have better leave policies than the US. But consider if any of your guests may have recently started a new job with limited (or no) time off. 

Also, consider traffic issues if you are in a larger city or urban environment, and try to schedule your event to start on either side of five o’clock traffic (which, for Seattle, starts at 3:30pm and goes until 6pm).

Friday weddings are great for shorter, cocktail party vibe weddings. Consider starting your event with a cocktail hour to give your guests a “soft landing” in case there is traffic, or they are coming straight from work.

Sunday weddings also have a smaller price tag, but guests may be less committed to a “party” vibe if they have to work the next day (although some may elect to take the next day off work anyways!). In my experience, a Sunday wedding can still have all the energy of a Saturday wedding, but it is best to make the wedding start and end slightly earlier (my suggestion is that it ends no later than 9pm).

Between you and me, I will choose a Sunday wedding a hundred times over a Friday or weekday wedding.