Wedding on Friday evening, reception on Saturday evening?

I was just recently associated with the following real weddings . .

Bride and Groom got married at 3PM at the Court House. At 5PM they met about 20 of their closet friends and relatives at their favorite buffet restaurant. The following Sunday afternoon the Groom's parents, who live about 100 hundred miles away, had an "open house" for the couple at their home.

Bride and Groom got married at sunset in a friend's backyard. Over 100 people were invited to the candlelight ceremony. A reception followed the ceremony at the firehouse community hall with a DJ and a big assortment of desserts plus the wedding cake.

Bride and Groom got married at 5PM at the Bride's Mother's house. About 25 people attended the ceremony. After the ceremony a baked ham and macaroni and cheese dinner were served to the guests followed by ice cream and fancy cupcakes. The next day, the Bride and Groom hosted their own party. Almost 200 people were invited to a private club for "barbecue, beer, and a live band".

You can only have A RECEPTION on the day you are married. You can have A CELEBRATION or you can have A PARTY two days or two weeks or two months later but you can only have A RECEPTION on your wedding day.

Answered by: A Certified wedding specialist / A Professional bridal consultant / A Wedding ceremony officiant

If you're absolutely determined to do it, I don't see an etiquette type problem with it, but to be honest, it hits me wrong for several reasons. The big one is you'll be asked about it nonstop, and to spread your wedding out over 2 days to celebrate a personal anniversary sounds a bit selfish, since it clearly is inconvenient to your guests. So it's hard for me to imagine how you'd word that.

Then there's the difficulties of an early evening Friday wedding. It isn't just people coming from out of town - it's also people having to work that day, rush home, get dressed and get to the church. I honestly think you might end up with a fair amount of no-show's at the wedding.

I don't get your intentions here. If you want to be married on the Friday, why not just have your reception afterwards on the Friday evening?

Splitting up the wedding and reception is doable, but can be quite an annoyance for guests, and I don't see the point unless you have a real reason for it.

I don't see the need to have it on two separate days. If having it on your anniversary is that important to you, just have it on Friday. Just realize that you may not have all the guests you want because of work and other reasons. Or if you don't mind sacrificing the anniversary thing, have it on Saturday and you'll probably get more of your guests there.

You're making it way too difficult on your guests if you do this, making you a poor hostess. Pick a day and do it, even if it's Friday. You could do it Saturday, you know, and just have it "the weekend we met" rather than "the day we met."

It would be ok if you are only inviting local people. If you have a lot of people coming in from out of town, it would not be fair to them to have to get a motel. I suggest holding it on a Saturday afternoon.

You could do but then if your family come down or people travel it is a bit of a hassle . :/.. and not as much to celebrate at the reception.

honey. no. you get one wedding day. not a weekend festival. so pick ONE.

there are no pros. the very best night for this is saturday. this ensures your guests presence and participation.

you could do that or just have your wedding and have a lunch after wards at a restaurant, for like dinner or so.