You might think that getting married over a holiday weekend is a great idea. Everyone already has a long weekend, so they'll appreciate the extra day for travel, right? Not necessarily. Here are five reasons why you should avoid getting married over holiday weekends.
1) Travel is more expensive
It's almost a given that some, if not many, of your guests will have to travel to attend your wedding. Airfares and hotel rates are higher for holiday weekends than they are for regular weekends. It can cost a small fortune to attend a wedding these days. Don't make it harder on your guests by artificially inflating their travel costs.
2) You won't save any money on your wedding
You might think you can get married on the Sunday evening of a holiday weekend and get the off-peak rate for your wedding. This is wrong for two reasons. First, aside from the venue, most wedding vendors charge the same amount for a Sunday wedding as they do for a Saturday wedding. Second, venues treat the Sunday night of a holiday weekend just like the Saturday night of a regular weekend. It's a peak night, with peak prices.
3) People have other plans
You might think your wedding is the social event of the season, but trust me, your guests have lives of their own. Labor Day weekend is the last hurrah of summer, and the last three-day weekend that is likely to have pleasant weather. Your friends and family probably already have ideas about how they want to spend this weekend, and it doesn't necessarily include traveling to your wedding.
4) Not everyone gets holidays off
If you have a Monday-Friday office job, you tend to think everyone has that type of job. If you have Memorial Day off, you tend to think everyone has that day off. But for someone who works in the service industry—retail, food service, hospitality—the standard holidays don't necessarily apply. Your wedding on the Sunday night of Memorial Day weekend is just another inconvenience for them.
5) Tourists
If you're getting married in a location that is a known tourist destination, the crowds are likely to be worse over a holiday weekend. The photo above was taken in Washington, D.C., around the corner from the White House. Do you know how many tourists would be in the background if they had gotten married on a holiday weekend? Hundreds. Those sidewalks would be jammed. If you want your out-of-town guests to have a pleasant experience visiting your wedding destination, don't make them deal with hordes of tourists.
One last bit of advice: don't even think about getting married over Thanksgiving weekend. Thanksgiving is the single-most expensive weekend to travel. The roads and airports are a nightmare. And it's one of the most family-centric weekends of the year. Expect very low turnout if you want to get married over Thanksgiving.