With engagement season just around the corner, Tanner and I have been seeing an influx of wedding inquires the past few weeks. The weird thing is that the last 5+ inquires we’ve gotten have been for a Friday wedding date! We know all the benefits of having a Friday wedding, and it seems like a ton of our brides are catching on too! But if you’re planning a wedding and thinking that a Saturday is the only day of the week that’s an option, you’re in for a surprise! Traditionally, Saturday weddings rule the industry. Sure. They make a ton of sense. But they’re also in extremely high demand! So today on Wedding Wednesday, we’re sharing the five biggest perks of having a Friday Wedding!

Perk #1: Venue Discounts
Weddings are not cheap. Everything adds up SO quickly and one of, if not the most expensive item on your list will be your wedding venue. Because Saturday dates are the first to go, venues love the opportunity book their space on the off days! And because a Friday wedding is not as popular, many times venues have a discount in place for Friday and even Sunday weddings! Many times their minimum guest count will be lower and their cost per meal will be lower as well! So if you’ve had your heart set on a specific venue, only to find out that their calendar is completely booked every Saturday for the next six years, give the Friday dates a chance! Just ask about off-day discounts and you could save you a ton of money!

Perk #2: More Vendor Options
On top of potential discounts from venues, the venues will be more likely to be available on a Friday. And if venues are more likely to be available on Friday, then other vendors will be too! If you’re like me and already have all of your wedding vendors picked out before you’re even engaged, including your photographer, florist, caterer, etc… then you might not be willing to give one of them up. If most weddings occur on Saturday, it only makes sense that most wedding vendors will be unavailable too. Even though you’ll have more options for your vendors, don’t expect to receive a discount from them! Florists, h&mu, DJ, and photographer prices are based on the amount of hours they will be working! So just because your wedding might be on an off day, doesn’t mean those vendors will have to do less work!

Perk #3: 3 Day Weekend!
Everyone loves 3 day weekends! And while it might be slightly inconvenient for your guests to take work off on Friday if they’ll be traveling long distance, they will LOVE having Saturday and Sunday to relax and recover from the fun of your wedding! If your guests wont be traveling more than an hour or so, it really won’t inconvenience them much at all as long as the ceremony starts late enough in the day! And with an evening ceremony time, that also means you have ALL day to relax and prepare for the wedding! Just an added bonus!

Perk #4: Rehearsal Dinner Reservations
This Friday wedding perk may not be as exciting or as important, but if you have a favorite restaurant, it will be much easier to reserve a room or several tables when your rehearsal dinner takes place on Thursday. Restaurants are typically not as busy during the week, so not only will your top choice most likely be available for your reservation, but you will likely get better service and you might also have a wider variety of menu options to choose from!

Perk #5: Relax & Unwind
All of these benefits are amazing, but I think this one would seal the deal for me! If you are expecting out of town guests that you don’t get to see very often, having a Saturday wedding means they will need to leave on Sunday in order to make it back for work the next day! But, if you have a Friday wedding, your guests can stay an extra night! This is the perfect opportunity to host a lunch date with them the next morning! If you aren’t having out of town guests, you can still use the next day or two to prepare for your honeymoon and unwind from the excitement of your wedding day! After all the madness is over, the last thing I would want to do is be cramped on a super long flight with another person next to us haha!

Overall, Friday weddings are becoming more and more popular for a reason! There are so many benefits and it wouldn’t hurt you at all to at least think about it, right?! It might just end up saving you thousands of dollars on top of being less stressful to plan! I truly hope this helped! Maybe you weren’t considering a Friday wedding at all, or maybe you were on the fence about it, either way, we hoped this helped with your decision!