Get Married! Just Not On A Saturday | by Irwin, PA Wedding Photographer

Welcome to 2020 – the year of the unknown.

With our world spiraling out of control & so much changing so incredibly fast – it is downright impossible to predict what the rest of our spring & summer & fall will bring. Will life go back to normal? What will our new “normal” look like? When will the government begin opening the economy back up? And when will the CDC finally approve larger gatherings to occur once more?

For brides & grooms with weddings planned in 2020 – you all are in a crazy, hard, heart-wrenching place right now. My heart has literally been breaking since the very beginning of all of this for the brides & grooms who planned their weddings for 2020. It’s so hard to try to plan & predict & envision what your wedding day will look like, when so much is unknown.

If I can, let me just take a moment to encourage you: it’s going to be okay in the end. I know a lot of people have said this – but I’m going to echo it: your wedding may end up getting rescheduled & postponed and it (probably) will look very different from what you had originally planned. But you know what will never get rescheduled or postponed? Love.

Weddings have, and will, and are getting postponed, but that doesn’t stop you from marrying your best friend. People are finding the most out-of-the-box, fun, and unique ways to tie the knot right now & I am here for it. The parties & big celebrations may have to wait, but that doesn’t mean that life has to wait. Go! Get married! Make it official! And I promise, we will all celebrate with you virtually & safely in our homes, by driving by & honking our horns, and by wrapping you up in the most massive hugs during the biggest party of your life when this is all over.

Your traditional “wedding celebration” may get rescheduled, but love will never be rescheduled & that is some awfully good news.

Whew – hopping down off my soap box now!

If you find yourself in the situation of needing to postpone your wedding celebration party – the one with all of your friends & family in attendance – I would highly encourage you to consider picking an “off” day to host that party.

We are all doing things out-of-the-ordinary right now, so why not have your wedding on a Friday or Sunday – or Wednesday – to boot? Rescheduling & hosting your wedding on an “off” day will greatly increase your chance of bringing all of your initial, amazing vendors with you, and being able to host your day at your originally planned venue (and thus saving you a lot of money!)

For some reason, there is a weird stigma going around that says, “Hosting your wedding on any day but Saturday is wrong.” But, I really don’t know where that tradition came from! Sure, if you have guests traveling into town for your big day – having your wedding on a Saturday can make a lot of sense, but I can assure you – there is no “bad luck” associated with hosting your wedding on another day.

If you are a bride or groom that is currently being faced with needing to postpone & reschedule your wedding celebration – let me offer up a few reasons why I would encourage you to consider an “off” day.

Keep Your Vendors

I think the hardest thing for me (and most wedding vendors) right now is: having fostered these amazing relationships with our clients & then having them reschedule their wedding for a day that I am already booked for another wedding. It’s downright heartbreaking. I’ve cried. It’s so hard. One of my favorite things about photographing weddings is getting to know my couples & their story and then being able to celebrate with them on their “Day 1” as their friend (instead of a “vendor”). When I can’t celebrate with them, it’s like having a good friend get married, but not being able to attend the wedding. It is the very epitome of FOMO & it’s tragic.

That being said – please consider that all of your wedding vendors are already booked thru the end of this year & into next year. Unless you are hiring complete newbies and vendors that don’t have a lot of business (for whatever reason), it is probably downright impossible to move your wedding to a new Saturday in 2020 or 2021 and expect to bring your entire vendor team with you.

However – if you move your wedding to an “off-day” (any day but Saturday) the likelihood of bringing all of your vendors with you goes thru the roof. Most vendors are waiving rescheduling fees right now & every vendor (that I know of) will transfer all monies paid to a new date – if they are available! So, like I said above – you’re already doing things in a unique & different way – why not plan your wedding for a different day as well?

Discounts

This doesn’t apply to every vendor, but some vendors will provide discounts for “off-peak” days. I hesitate to even share this – but I realize that this is a completely valid point & does apply to some wedding vendors.

For me – I do not offer a discount if you host your wedding celebration on a day other than Saturday. The reason for that is: I book a very limited number of weddings every single year – I have a limit in place because I am a small business (it’s all owned, operated, and run by me!) and I want to provide the very best experience for all of my brides & grooms. (And that means, keeping my head above water & not biting off more than I can chew.)

There is a lot of front-end and back-end work for wedding photographers. We don’t just show up on a wedding day & snap photos – we plan timelines, have meetings with our couples, we scout locations – then we shoot for 8-10 hours on a wedding day – and then we have to bring those images home to edit, and blog, and sneak peek, and deliver post-wedding day. With all of that in mind, for me – a wedding on Saturday is just as much work as a wedding on a Sunday. And no matter what day of the week you host your wedding – I still only take a certain number of weddings every year.

But there are vendors out there (especially venues) that will offer discounts if you host your wedding in the “off-season” or on a day other than Saturday. That venue is just sitting empty the other days of the week, so if the venue owner can fill their venue & bring in additional revenue, a lot will offer an incentive to do so.

My advice would be: don’t be disappointed if you ask a vendor if they provide an “off-peak” discount & they say “No” – but it doesn’t hurt to ask either!

More Options

We all know that Saturdays are peak wedding days – especially Saturdays in June, July, August, September, and October. That is considered “peak” wedding season (here in the North Eastern part of the United States anyway). So, if you have your heart set on a certain venue or vendor being part of your celebration, they might already be booked for the Saturday you’re considering (especially if they are good at what they do!) Choosing an “off” day, tends to open up more possibilities & make booking (or keeping) your favorite, most desired vendors much easier.

More Relaxed

From my own personal experience – weddings that take place on Fridays or Sundays tend to be more relaxed. I can’t seem to pinpoint why – maybe it’s because we only have 52 Saturdays in a year & that means they are precious commodities? So, when you host your wedding on a day that leaves your guests’ Saturdays open – they are more appreciative? I really can’t say, but I do know that of all the Friday and Sunday weddings I’ve been a part of celebrating – every one of them always just seemed so much more chill!

One last piece of advice –

If you find yourself in the unfortunate spot of needing to reschedule & postpone your wedding-celebration-party (because, remember, no marriages are getting canceled due to COVID-19!) – please contact your vendors & let them know as soon as possible. We are all human beings who are anxiously watching & keeping track of the news just like you are. We truly want to help in any way we possibly can, and that includes not only acting as an aide to come alongside you & answering questions you might have, but in making the transition to a new date with you – if we can! (And trust me, we really want to!) There is no reason to be nervous or scared of talking with us – I promise – open & honest communication is the way to go!