Tag: Wedding Date Selection

DATES TO KNOW BEFORE PLANNING YOUR WEDDING IN 2014 –

If you want success at your wedding, attendance plays a big part.

There are a billion things to think about when planning your wedding in Albany NY or around the world, but what some people do not take into account is the importance of the actual date selection itself on the calendar.

NEVER NEVER NEVER select a wedding date because that is the only day a wedding hall has open. There could be a reason it is open that nobody has booked for that day! Do your homework and figure out what else could be happening that day before selecting.

What are the days around they day you are thinking of choosing? What other things could be happening on this date that could create competition? Choosing a “Holiday Weekend Wedding” can totally have it’s pros and cons, but however, sometimes the nostalgia is not really worth it, in the end.

THE PROS OF PLANNING A HOLIDAY WEDDING –

1) HOLIDAYS ARE EASY TO REMEMBER
2) HOLIDAYS HELP PROVIDE YOU WITH A THEME TO FOLLOW
3) GUESTS MAY HAVE OFF OF WORK – Another great thing about planning a holiday wedding is that your guests will have an extra day off of work 9usually a monday) for recovery and travel time. Or, a holiday weekend can allow for a better Sunday wedding, which incidently, is often more affordable that a Saturday wedding works out to be.

 THE CONS ON SELECTING A HOLIDAY FOR YOUR WEDDING  –

1) TRAVEL INCREASE – Traveling costs are traditionally more on holidays, bottom line. Your costs and the the cost for your guests’ airfare traveling and/or hotels are often higher on holiday weekends, due to supply and demand of travelers.

2) GUEST ATTENDANCE – Choosing a holiday wedding might hurt your wedding guest attendance list. Let’s face it. People are creatures of habit, and nobody likes change. Some families have other regularly scheduled commitments and traditions for on-going standing holiday weekend and, more often than not, these are traditions are ones that some people would not want to change, no matter what the cause.

HOLIDAY WEEKENDS FOR 2014

Monday, January 20, 2014 Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Monday, February 17, 2014 Washington’s Birthday
Monday, May 26, 2014 Memorial Day
Friday, July 4, 2014 Independence Day
Monday, September 1, 2014 Labor Day
Monday, October 13, 2014 Columbus Day
Tuesday, November 11, 2014 Veterans Day
Thursday, November 27, 2014 Thanksgiving Day
Thursday, December 25, 2014 Christmas Day

3) RELIGIOUS DAYS –
While you may or may not recognize a number of religious holidays, your guests might. Think about religious holidays when choosing your wedding date. There may even be church restrictions on if you are allowed to marry at these times, so you may have to make some calls if you go against this one.

Palm Sunday
April 13, 2014
March 29, 2015
March 20, 2016
Easter Sunday
April 20, 2014
April 5, 2015
March 27, 2016
Passover (begins at sunset the night before)
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Friday, April 22, 2016
Friday, April 22, 2016
Tisha B’Av (begins at sunset the night before)
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Rosh Hashanah (begins at sunset the night before)
Thursday, September 25, 2014, until nightfall on Friday, September 26, 2014
Monday, September 14, 2015, until nightfall on Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Sunday, October 2, 2016, until nightfall on Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Yom Kippur (begins at sunset the night before)
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Hanukkah (begins at sunset)
Wednesday, December 17, 2014, until nightfall on Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Monday, December 7, 2015, until nightfall on Monday, December 14, 2015
Saturday, December 24, 2016 until nightfall on Sunday, January 1, 2017

DJ TIPS – MORE WEDDING DATE SELECTION TIPS

COSTLY HOLIDAYS – Valentine’s Day will make your floral bill shyrocket, and New Year’s will make your venue more too!

PERSONALLY SIGNIFICANT DAYS – Check your own calendar for college reunions, family weddings, anniversaries or other events, like big conventions or festivals in your city (call your local chamber of commerce), and any annual occasions that involve your family or close friends.

HOLIDAY WEEKENDS – Holiday weekend weddings have pros and cons. You’ve got an extra day for the festivities (and recovery!); plus, a Sunday wedding is often less expensive than a Saturday one would be. However, costs of travel and hotels may be higher. And if you’re looking to marry around Valentine’s Day, be wary of your floral bill, especially if you’ve got your heart set on red roses — they’ll likely be more expensive than at any other time of the year. Likewise, reception sites often charge a higher fee for a New Year’s Eve wedding. Also consider the impact of a holiday weekend on your guest list: Some families have standing plans or traditions that they’d prefer not to miss.

So the ring has been given, now, what next? Is there anything important you need to think of when choosing your actual wedding date? How to choose a wedding date, is difficult and should not be taken lightly.

When you are picking a date to throw a big event like a wedding, one should approach things with a good business mind. That means, KNOW YOUR COMPETITION. Like any other important date, be smart about selection. You should act like a real good planner and think of all the reasons your guests may not be able to come on that particular day. Believe it or not, people may not make your most special date their top priority.

You probably can understand that planning a wedding on Superbowl Sunday is probably not the best idea, if you have a lot of sports fans on either side of the family. So when do you plan it?

Choosing the actual day of the week is tough, but it is not the biggest battle. Most people will agree that a Sunday or a Friday is a good idea, but Saturday seems to be even better due to commute issues for your guests either before or after the ceremony and reception. If this is true, then what you really need to focus on is which Saturday on the calendar is best to choose? To figure this out, think about which Saturday will pose the least amount of distrations to the majority of your guests.

STAY AWAY FROM HOLIDAYS – Face it. Aside from your one uncle that farts a lot, and the one cousin who gets extremely drunk even at communion, for the most part, you really want your all of your friends and family to be able to make it. However, there is one mistake that a lot of party planners seem to make… PUTTING THE DATE ON A HOLIDAY, figuring that your guests have the date off anyway.

AVOID CAUSING A BREAK IN YOUR GUEST’S POSSIBLE TRADITIONS – Yes, at first, selecting a holiday as your wedding date seems like a novel idea; getting married on Christmas Eve, or The Fourth of July, perhaps. You probably figure that most people already have that date off, and it is fun to be able to say, “we are getting married and starting our NEW lives together on NEW Years Eve!” …or something to that effect. However, placing your special date on a day where other people may already have plans, or traditions is quite often a really bad thing to do.

For one, it sometimes can make some very important people in your lives have to pick between attending either their yearly plan/tradition, or attending your function. This can upset your guests or even you when you see what their decision is. It is a bad position to put people in on both sides.

I was the DJ for one wedding that actually fell on Halloween. It was also a “no kids allowed” wedding. This meant that some of their guests had to get babysitters and also, could not go trick-or-treating with their children. So what ended up happening? Many guest with younger children left way too early for the success of the wedding reception. When it came time to dance, a large portion of the guest list had left.

AVOID PLACING YOUR DATE ON A FUN DAY – Another reason chosing a fun calendar day for your special day is not a good idea is you may loose some of the fun people who might have attended that are not all that close to you. If they are not your very best friends, but you do want them to attend, it is possible that they may succumb to the temptation of your calendar date’s competition. That can mean less people you haven’t seen in a long time, or even worse, less of a good time overall.

A good example of this might be placing your wedding date on Saint Patrick’s day. While it is not traditionally a day that people may get off of work, it is a day that many other parties and events plan on.

An Irish Wedding theme can be great! However, choosing the actual Saint Patrick’s day date for your wedding will make some of your lesser important guests to have to choose between you, and that nice pint of green beer that is waiting for them down the street at their favorite pub. Again, as a rule of thumb, keep in mind that your most special day is not always going to be THEIR most special day. And you do not want to lose guests that you value simply because you picked one day, when you could have picked another. (For some ideas on Irish theme weddings check out my blog here.)

So think twice before choosing that holiday for your special day. If you create competion for your event by choosing a bad day from the start, you are only setting yourself up for potential heartache.