Saturday evening is the most popular time for weddings. It’s also the most expensive. Friday nights aren’t much better. Select a Friday or Saturday during peak wedding season, and it’ll cost even more.
That’s why more budget-conscious couples plan their nuptial events between Sunday and Thursday.
Kelly Swarm enjoyed big savings for her Thursday evening wedding last March. She paid just $600 for the Dove House in Lafayette, which rents for $3,300 on Saturdays. “So we got an incredible deal,” says Swarm.
Outright discounts most often apply to venues, but other service vendors (photographers, DJs, quartets, limousine services) also may discount rates for events on alternative days.
“The savings ranges from 20-30 percent,” says Alan Fields, co-author of “Bridal Bargains: Secrets to Throwing a Fantastic Wedding in a Realistic Budget” (Windsor Peak Press, 2004). “And, as is often the case with weddings, sometimes it’s not an outright discount on the price, but the addition of freebies or sweeteners thrown in.”
For instance, hotels or caterers might allow lower minimums for food and beverage service. Limo drivers might accept a two-hour booking rather than insisting on the four hours required on Saturday nights. Photographers might offer better packages. Wedding venues might be more flexible about time blocks.
Pay attention, however, to seasonal changes that impact vendors. “If you go to a florist and say, ‘I’m getting married on Sunday, Feb. 12, is there a deal for that?’ They are going to say, ‘No,”‘ Fields says. “That’s right near Valentines Day.”
“You’ll see that somewhat in the month of December, with all the holiday parties that happen,” he adds. “When you start competing with the corporate parties, you run into the same thing.”
To find options for alternative days, Field recommends asking vendors for their full menu of services, prices and packages, not just “wedding packages.”
“Maybe you don’t need all the hoo-ha that goes with a special wedding package,” he says. “You’ll be surprised that often there are lower prices, or there’s just more choice.”
But, don’t assume that the discounts or bonuses are automatic. “I would just simply say, ‘We are very conscious of our wedding budget, and what kind of advice could you offer to help us with that budget by having our wedding any other day than Saturday?”‘ says longtime wedding planner Jan Thulin of Festivities.
Thulin says such savings also apply to destination weddings, still the hottest bridal trend.
Weekday weddings in tropical locales are cheaper than weekend ones – unless, of course, it’s the holidays. In 2004, CT Rippons got married on a Wednesday in Hawaii. The event was indeed cheaper because they had 20 guests, rather than 100 for a local wedding. But because it landed between Christmas and New Year’s, he received no weekday discounts.
The single biggest concern about weekday weddings is that out-of-
town guests must take time off work to attend. “You have to balance that out,” Thulin says. “The bride and groom have to take a poll of their family and friends to make sure people can come.”
Mala Alvey, who got married at the Westin Tabor Center on a Sunday night in September, reports no grumbling. “A lot of people flew in on Friday and flew out on Monday,” she says, “and we didn’t really hear anything about that.”
While Alvey enjoyed lower food and beverage minimums and free downtown parking for her alternative-day wedding, she learned a key lesson about the bar tab, which she paid for hourly.
“A lot of people ended up leaving earlier than we expected,” she says, “because they had to work the next day. That’s something that didn’t occur to us. I don’t know why it didn’t, but it would have been less expensive to pay per drink.”
Yet Alvey found the overall planning a snap because everything was simply more available on Sundays than on Friday or Saturday nights, which book a year or two in advance for in-demand vendors. “Everything was just so much easier to plan,” says Alvey.
Jessica Adler of J.A. Special Events, who has four Sunday weddings booked for 2006, adds that couples just have to decide what’s most important – budget, wedding style and timing, certain guests being able to attend and so forth. From there, she suggests being open to alternative days or even brunch or luncheon weddings, which also carry discounts.
And if you’re heart is really set on a summertime Saturday, Adler says, “There are always newer places out there, companies trying to get their name out. You can sometimes give them a chance and end up being one of the first couples to work with a company that turns out to be one of the best in town five years from now.”
Costs to contemplate
Average wedding costs in 1990: $13,000
Average wedding costs in 2005: $20,000
Average cost wedding dress in 1990: $800
Average cost wedding dress in 2005: $800 (due mostly to inexpensive gowns made in China)
Best time to shop for wedding gown: Nov. 1 through Christmas (stores are slowest, might have sales)
Most expensive wedding line item: Food/catering
Annual increase in catering costs: 5-8 percent
Most popular month to get married: August
Off-peak months for weddings:
November, January, February, March
Potential savings Sunday-Thursday wedding: 20-30 percent
Potential savings for daytime wedding: 20-30 percent
Potential savings for last-minute (2-3 months) wedding planning: 50 percent
Additional bonus for weekday weddings: Easier, and possibly cheaper, to book rehearsal dinner at hot local restaurants
Sources: Alan Fields, co-author “Bridal Bargains;” Marie Jenkinson, of The Dove House
