When it comes to planning your big day, you want everything to be just right! It’s as simple as that. From the intimate ceremony to the celebration that follows, there are more than a few details that come into play. Since opening the doors to Madera Estates, our goal has always been centered around a few sentences that appear right on the homepage to our website:
“When planning a wedding, no couple wants to hear about limits. Neither do we. That’s why we work with you to plan a day built on dreams, a visionary event in which every detail, from grand to intimate, is carried out beyond all expectations. As industry experts, we understand everything, even down to the smallest detail, is important on your wedding day! That’s why our team strives to give you a customized approach, while keeping the process as easy as possible.”
One big decision you’ll be faced with is in regards to which day you want to have your special day on. First off, you’ll answer the question, “What season best matches your vision?” Once that’s decided on, you’ll want to weigh the pro’s and con’s tied to the specific date of your celebration. As you likely would guess, certain dates and times of the year are much more popular than others. Having said this, you’re also looking at different pricing for these varying situations. Throughout this blogpost, we’ll take a look at the idea of weekday weddings. Every year, we host plenty of them here at Madera Estates. There’s always love in the air and a magical day is created when two decide to tie the knot!
Booking on a Budget
One of the easiest ways to ensure a stress-free wedding planning process is to have a budget set early on! While making sure to leave a little wiggle room, this will allow you to have a firm understanding of how much you can spend for each vendor and aspect of the big day! With this said, if you’re looking for an easy way to cut some costs, consider booking your venue on an off day. Here at Madera Estates, we follow a similar principal and weekdays come at a less expensive rate than those on Saturday’s. For instance, the venue rental for a weekday starts at $4.9k and we’re able to customize a package from there.
Struggling deciding where to start in creating your budget? Check out our budgeting blog from a few months ago. We discuss which decisions are going to make the biggest difference in your wedding going over-budget, as well as a few expert tips on stretching your budget the farthest!
Venue Availability
Just as booking a venue during a weekday can save you more than a few bucks on your budget, it’s also going to be much easier to ensure your dream venue is available. Considering most weddings are planned out more than a few months in advance, prime dates for venues also can easily get booked up to a year out. Going the weekday route opens up increased flexibility in choosing the day and season for your big day.
Your Vendor Dream Team
As you’re going through the planning process, we’re sure you’ve been scrolling through Instagram trying to find the perfect vendors for every part of your wedding day. Whether that be the videographer capable of capturing this perfect day, the floral designer known as the go-to option throughout your city or the hair stylist that truly creates works of art, everyone has their own “vendor dream team.” If these vendors happen to be highly sought-after, their schedules will likely fill up rather fast. As a result, it can be tough to get all of your top selections for the Saturday you’ve selected. On the contrary, weekday weddings relieve a lot of this booking competition and present you with much higher rates of vendor availability.
More Intimate Celebration
With the majority of our weekday weddings, one of the first things couples say about the celebration was that they tend to be more intimate. Since it’s slightly more difficult for guests to make it, in comparison to a weekend event, the guest list is typically filled with family and your closest friends. At the end of the day, everyone in attendance will be able to truly concentrate on the main reason for the celebration: the love between the two people getting married! That’s going to be the case any day of the week!
Cheaper Wedding Travel
Like most would assume, one of the biggest caveats to hosting a weekday wedding would be ensuring all of your guests are able to make it in town. If your guests will be traveling from out of town for your big day, one plus is cheaper travel costs. While airfare rates greatly depend on the route and airline, Tuesday and Wednesday are widely considered to be the cheapest travel days. Mondays and Thursdays aren’t too far behind either!
Don’t Forget About the Logistics
While a weekday wedding makes sense for plenty of couples each and every year, there are going to be a few logistical matters to be mindful of. These are not meant to be deal breakers, but rather some best practices to ensure the complete celebration goes flawlessly. Here’s a few of our favorites:
- Consider an Evening Ceremony: There’s a good chance most of your guests could be coming straight from work. Look at having your ceremony start around 6 or 6:30. This will prevent your guests from having to leave work early to attend. It should also give them time to plan for traffic.
- Plan Around Long Weekends: It never hurts to get a game plan around the various bank holidays throughout the year, since most people are already off work. If you’re worried about attendance rates, this could easily be the perfect solution!
- Communication, Communication, Communication: For anyone that’s ever attended a wedding, you know that the topic of communication cannot be understated. You want all of your friends and family to attend, but it’s your responsibility to ensure they have proper notice and can make the necessary arrangements to attend. This need for advance notice is even more critical for weekday weddings, as it has a few more variables intertwined. From the “Save The Date” to the wedding invitation itself, make sure your guests have more than enough time to rearrange their busy schedules, ask off work and find a babysitter.
Take a Tour of Madera Estates
As mentioned earlier in this blog, weekday weddings are certainly nothing new for our team here at Madera Estates. Just as is the case with weekend weddings, the same logic holds true: no matter what day or season you choose to host your wedding, there’s always going to be love in the air. At Madera Estates, we’re committed to finding the perfect day for you that’s capable of making your vision a reality and fitting within your budget.
Don’t hesitate to book a private, complimentary champagne tour of our facility HERE. From the Grand Fireplace and Hacienda to the Champagne Suite and Whiskey Lounge, we’ll make sure to show you all that Madera has to offer.
Additionally, we encourage you to follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Throughout the week, we’ll post photos and videos from real weddings at Madera! If you need some inspiration for your dream day, this is a perfect place to start!