Wedding date dilemma

[Subla2401]

Just looking for some impartial advice here as I am so indecisive. I recently got engaged to my partner of 8 years and we have just found the venue we'd love to get married in, which is exciting! However, they are very limited on dates.

I am a teacher so ideally would like to get married when I have more than just one week off work. So that leaves Easter or summer (it's an outdoorsy venue so not too keen on winter time). If we want to go for next year, Easter is completely booked and they only have Sundays left in August. If we want a Saturday wedding, we'd have to push it back to 2021, where we can choose either April or August.

We're keen to get married sooner rather than later. But, is a Sunday wedding a terrible idea? And alternatively, will April be too cold (we live in the South of England)? The venue is a couple of hours away from home so guests would need to stay the night, meaning they'd have to book Monday off work.

So my question is... which would you choose and why?

Thanks so much in advance.

Sunday will be fine, the only issue is people might not stay late on the evening if they are working on the Monday.

Could you get married end of may half term and have your honeymoon in the summer?

i got married in the April and it was freezing, but a few years later, we went to a wedding 3 days earlier than our anniversary and it was boiling. April is a funny month for the weather. Personally, I’d go August. My 2nd marriage took place in August and it’s generally drier, and lighter.

Could you consider a Friday? Would your venue offer that? Guests would still need to take a day off I guess but they’d get the opportunity to spend time with you the day after.

How about a Friday? My brother got married on a Sunday and the evening reception was very flat - they expected lots of people to stay and take the Monday off. Instead they had one drink with the meal and left by 9 or 10 to drive home that night.

The last Monday in August is usually a bank holiday, is that Sunday free?

Personally I would compromise on venue to get married next year. I assume the bank holiday Sunday is booked? If you really want this venue, then have a ghat with your important guests about a Sunday wedding. You definitely run the risk of people leaving early to get home, so it depends how much that matters to you.

I got married in April and had a lovely day, although cooler than mid summer can be, but who knows with the weather?! What are your honeymoon plans? Do you want to go straight away? Easter makes that trickier but a lot of traditional honeymoon destinations outside Europe aren't great in August.

We had a similar issue but decided to get married on the late May bank holiday Sunday and then have a ‘mini moon’ with our honeymoon booked for the summer

We had a Sunday August wedding for the same reasons as you. It worked out fine, our venue had barely any rooms so most people weren't staying over anyway. (That's something I'd change looking back!) None of our guests declined and lots were teachers too so had nothing to worry about. However if you have many guests who won't be able to book time off then maybe Easter would be better. Those who had work on the Monday left ours a bit earlier in the evening but say at 10.30 instead of midnight so it didn't have a big impact on the party feel. Also on our August date it was quite cool, weather wise we had wind, rain, spots of sunshine - everything, so if you're in the uk there's no guarantee with summer dates anyway.

If it’s a couple of hours away requiring a stay over, you have to accept that fewer people will come for a Sunday wedding. Not everybody can/will spare the annual leave.

Actually as a potential guest, unless you were close family, I'd probably not bother. Having to travel two hours and stay overnight would put me off attending anyway.

I would not choose a venue that far away from home and I would not wait 2 years for it to be available. If you want to get married, pick a date and then work out the rest around that.

I got married on a Sunday. If you give people plenty of notice so they can book the day off work it's fine. Expect things like registrar to be more expensive and hairdressers/make up people etc. I got married end of August and it was warm but cloudy.

I think having a Sunday wedding where most people will have to travel and stay is a bad idea. I have some stuff in the diary at work for next Easter and Summer that I couldn’t move and if it clashed I’d decline.

Either have it nearer or wait until the following year. Alternatively get married in term time and have your honeymoon later.

Change the venue
Ridiculous to compromise on days and years just for one place

My friend got married on a Sunday, everyone simply took the Monday off work. It was a great wedding and nobody battered an eyelid over a Sunday wedding.

Do a friday one
Sunday is the worst day of them all...

I would probably look for another venue. If most of your guests live in your home town it is not really fair to expect them to travel that far - they would all have to book overnight which is a large extra expense. With that plus the compromising on dates, I would just find somewhere else.

I'm also a teacher and we got married on the Sunday before October half term. Everyone we invited came and stayed until late with the non-local guests staying over. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, as October often is. Look at the weather we've had this August! April is usually wet and chilly too. If it's an outdoors wedding it's really tricky as the weather could be doing anything. It could also be excessively warm in August which can make everyone uncomfortable and looking all red and sweaty.
The best of luck with planning everything, it's so exciting!

I got married in April, outside, on a beach, in Scotland. All o wanted was dry weather and it rained the day before. April would be fine and if you google outdoor weddings in the rain they can be beautiful and I bet the venue face the issue of rain often (i Britain they have to). Congratulations 👰🏻

I think Sunday is fine, In my profession we worked Saturdays so Sunday was ideal.
i’d Stick with August though if it’s outdoorsy.
If people can’t get a Monday off work, then they could always go home Sunday evening. I’d make sure the daytime celebrations aren’t too late in the day to allow for that.

I'd say a Sunday is fine but judging by the responses on here not everyone agrees! Maybe it's worth checking with those close friends and family you definitely want there to see what they think? Not that it's anyone's choice but yours but some feedback from people actually attending rather than internet strangers might be an idea

You've got a couple of things conspiring against you here. The venue being two hours away and it being a Sunday. Neither are ideal and both issues make the other worse. You need to be prepared for the reception to fall fairly flat from about 8pm onwards and be pretty dead by 10pm. You will also get a number of people who will not come at all or will come for ceremony only and then head home.

Honestly, I think you need to rethink the venue or push back the wedding to a more convenient date. I would go with a venue change personally (find a more local one).

Oh and I got married on a Wednesday and everyone we invited came.

Oh and our reception wasn't flat at all.

I’ve been to a wedding on Sunday and it was really dull because everyone had work the next day. I refuse to book a day off for a hangover! A Friday wedding would be much better, I’m happy to take annual leave for a wedding! I’ve done both and the Friday wedding was far better! If you’re really stuck it would probably be better to change venues though. But I really do hate Sunday weddings! (Unless it’s a bank holiday)

How are you actually going to get married? And will they do a Sunday?(registrar?)