by Kristin Mihailovich

Created on: April 22, 2008

Picking a wedding date can be one of the most crucial details you have to decide on. Everything matters - the time of the year, the day of the week even the time of the day. A basic rule of thumb is the summer is the most expensive time of year, followed by early fall and early spring. Of course the cheapest time of the year is in the dead of the winter. May through September are the most popular months by far. Holiday weekends will also run your tab up considerably higher, because they are more desirable.

Moving onto the day of the week every day you can pick has its pitfalls. Anything Monday through Thursday will save you money but most likely your guests wont be happy about going to a wedding in the middle of the week. The most common and desirable days to get married are Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with Sunday being the cheapest. They cost less because people have to work the next day, many brides try to get away with a Sunday wedding by having it at an earlier time or on a holiday weekend, however depending on the holiday you may still end up paying as much as a Saturday. Fridays come next in price because people can have the wedding as late as they'd like without having to work about guests having to work the next day. However, many people do not enjoy having to work all day just to rush home and get ready for a wedding. Also keep in mind that if you are having a church cermony many of your guests will not attend because of work or traffic conditions. Saturdays are the best day for a wedding, because most likely none of your guests had to work that day or will have to work the following day. You will pay for the luxury of a Saturday wedding, often $10-30 more per head depending on the time of the year.

The time of the day matters just as much, though time changes can only be altered on Saturdays or Sundays. Basically you have three time frames to choose from, you can have an afternoon wedding, twighlight or evening. Afternoon ceremonys often take place around 11:00 a.m. and will end around 4:00 p.m. Twighlight weddings start mid afternoon and depending on when you started it, they will end around 8:00 p.m. Evening weddings will run you the most but they are the most enjoyable because people enjoy drinking and dancing late into the night.

Basically, the biggest role of thumb you need to adhere to is the more desirable the day the more you're going to pay.

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