Reception etiquette

Our wedding took place on Friday and all our family and friends left early from work or took the day off to come out to celebrate with us. There isn't anything wrong with going ahead on Friday as an alternative day.

We are doing this! Our new 2021 reception date is a Friday (really just to save us some money with “Friday” prices). Our logic is that because it’s just a reception is will start later (likely doing some type of cocktail hour around 5 then dinner not starting until 6:30ish) so while some people from out of town might have to leave work a bit early they should be able to get away with not having to take the entire day off!

Thank you for the advise ladies! I think we’re going to go ahead with a Friday reception but push it back to probably 5:30/6. I hope you both have wonderful weddings ❤️

View quoted message Sounds like it will be completely doable for your guests! I do agree with Kelcie though and I would consider pushing it back if you can. Our wedding will be 4pm-1am and that includes ceremony and cocktail hour. Especially given your worry about people taking it off work - 4pm may be a little tight.

I think this is totally fine! I’d still be pumped to go. One suggestion—maybe consider kicking the reception off a little later than 4? If you plan to keep things in swing until 12 am, that’s an 8 hour party. Which is pretty long for a reception alone (I’ve been to weddings with a 4-12 timeline that included the ceremony as well). If you start at 530-6ish (and serve dinner around 7) not only will it be a more manageable night of partying, but guests may have an easier time battling rush hour traffic, accommodating their workday, etc. Just a thought!


If 4 works best for you and your guests (if many are older and will want to head out by 8 or 9 pm, for example) then you should definitely do that!

Two years ago I attended a reception only event on a Friday. It was my partner's friend & co-worker. The ceremony was a week prior on a Saturday for family only 350+ people. The reception was held a week later on a Friday with approximately 150 people. We were only invited to the reception. I went to work and came home and got ready. It was 45mins away and we gladly attended. The reception started at 6 or 7pm. We left around 10:30pm as we had other stuff to attend but the place was still full when we left.


I don't think it's a bad taste to have a Friday reception!

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Thank you for replying!! Everyone is fairly local except for a few family members, but they will be invited to the ceremony and are retired so I'm actually not worried about them being annoyed lol. We were thinking of starting the reception around 4 with dinner at around 5 and wrapping up around 12pm whether it was a Friday or Saturday so I guess it would be pretty much the same for people... upside is everyone would still have their weekend free to recover and relax

I think it depends how many people you have coming from out of town. I would think that most locals would be able to go to work (or perhaps take an early afternoon) before the reception. It's different than needing to be there early for both a ceremony and reception. Obviously those from out of town will need to take some time. Ultimately, I wouldn't mind because I wouldn't have to take time off for a Saturday ceremony - if I wasn't invited to the ceremony I would feel the same and treat it like any other Friday wedding.