What to Think About When Choosing Your Wedding Date
I’ve already talked about how I go about choosing your wedding date and what you should expect on certain days of the week. However, there are a ton of other things that you could, and should, think about when choosing your date.
Time off Work
One of the first things when choosing your date that you should consider is when you and your partner will be able to take off work. Not only for the wedding date but for your honeymoon as well. This should be a time that your work is not particularly busy. For instance, if you are a teacher, a summer or winter break wedding might be perfect for you! If you are an accountant, you might want to schedule your wedding around tax season since that will be your busiest time of the year.
Time to Plan
Another aspect to choosing your date that you should think about is the time that you have to plan your wedding. If you get engaged on Christmas or New Years, planning a wedding for the very next Valentine’s Day might not be realistic. Especially if you can’t devote 100% of your time into planning and if you have guests you want to come that are out of state.
Holidays
When thinking about your wedding image, did Christmas Tree or Costumes come into your mind? If so, you might be a Holiday Wedding Couple! Holidays are great for wedding planning as they can give you a reference point to your design. I personally love Halloween Weddings and would love to help plan a masquerade wedding with tons of pumpkins for the centerpiece.
Many Holidays also come with long weekends so you and your guests might take advantage of not having to take off too much work with that. On the other hand, Holidays typically have increased flight and hotel costs since many people travel on those days and its possible that your guests might have other plans already. So be sure to get your save the dates out early if you want your wedding to be at the top of their mind!
Local Events
Large local events can impact your wedding. Especially when your venue is located in or near the event. The event can affect guest arrival with traffic and finding parking places. It can also affect the vendors schedules if they aren’t aware that it will be difficult to get to the location. I once had a wedding at a church where all the roads surrounding the church were under construction. The guests, wedding party and myself were all late because we couldn’t actually get to the venue without parking far away and walking! Of course, we hadn’t known there would be road construction in front of the church during all of our walkthroughs and no one told us about it! It was a huge debacle but thankfully, since everyone was late nothing seemed out of line! Phew!
Budget
If you are a couple on a budget, the time of year might be super important for you in order to get what you want. Many venues and vendors have specials during their off seasons because their calendar is light during those times. These seasons are also dependant upon where you are located. For instance, Colorado Peak season is May through October, however in Florida those months are considered off season and October through May is the peak season.
Other Weddings
When thinking about when your wedding should be, keep in mind any weddings that you have already been invited to or know about even if the invite hasn’t been sent yet. Obviously sometimes there is nothing you can do about the dates overlapping since there is only 365 days in a year and around 1 million people get married in the US per year. However, I believe in the golden rule of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (or however that saying is worded) and be considerate of your cousin, sister or soon-to-be husband’s best friend and try to remember their day is just as important as yours.
VIP Guests
It’s also a good idea to talk to your VIP guests about the date and making sure that they are available, especially if you want them to come to your wedding. These VIPs can include mothers, fathers, grandparents, best friends and other close familial relations that you can not imagine your wedding date without.
Popular Wedding Dates
The last consideration when choosing your wedding date is popular wedding dates. These typically include holidays like New Years Eve and Day, Memorial Day, Valentine’s Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Not only are these popular wedding dates because people have off or can easily remember their anniversary but they can also be a “premium” day for your wedding vendors and they may charge more.
There are also dates that are considered Lucky for weddings these days are typically centered around religious or cultural beliefs and can seem random.
The last popular date choices include recurring numerals dates such as 10/10/2020 or 02/02/2020. These dates are just fun and easy for couples to remember and look cool on invites which is why they are popular. If you are looking to have one of these dates, just be sure to grab your vendors early since they book up quickly!
Are there any dates you find popular? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!