Beth Helmstetter Events

We are in the process of setting our wedding date and considering a holiday for the big day. What are the pros and cons? At the risk of being slightly offensive, I rarely think a holiday is the best option for a wedding day. My reason? Plain and simple, people have traditions they look forward to every year, whether it be slumming around on a boat with a Corona on Fourth of July, or having a movie marathon with their sweetie on New Year's Eve. It just doesn't seem necessary to schedule your wedding on one of these days when there are so many other weekends to host your wedding. Not to mention, holiday pay for your vendors and staff will wreak havoc on your budget.

I will say, however, I have had several destination weddings choose a long holiday weekend in an effort to get more guests in attendance, but this is typically only successful when a majority of your guests are family or very close friends with whom you already spend the holiday with. For the most part, if you choose to have your wedding the week of Thanksgiving or Easter weekend, it is likely that you will have a lower turn out than you anticipate as many of the guests will have their own families and traditions they need to honor on these days. So, to sum it up:

PROS
~If you want a smaller guest count, it can be a good way to get this without leaving people off of your invite list.
~The close family and friends that do attend will be able to make a weekend out of your wedding.

CONS
~Vendors, catering staff and others may request a hirer rate to work your holiday wedding
~Guests in attendance will likely only include your family and very close friends as the rest of the guest list will be celebrating their holiday in their way.
~Many guests, even if they do attend, may prefer to be celebrating their holiday in another way which in the end can result in taking away from your big day.

My suggestion: Create a new holiday and call it your anniversary! It will give you just one more reason to celebrate every year and guests will likely enjoy themselves that much more!