Saturday, August 13, 2011

Pick A Day...Any Day

We have a date and have notified guests of this date via our wonderful save the dates. That was a project and a half! I saved up the deposit and my dates (all 3 options) were booked. Along came summer camp and car trouble eating up all the money I saved. I saved again and amid a sea of family events, major religious holidays, the heavily booked event calendar at our venue, Florida weather considerations and impending births we compiled a list. It was amazingly frustrating.

I was stubbornly refusing to consider non-Saturday options in the beginning. When push came to shove we weren't thrilled about any of the Saturdays the venue had open. One of my brilliant bridesmaids had said something to the effect of "The people who love you will find a way to be there no matter what." A few weeks after that comment one of my friends told me she had been married on a Tuesday. That really opened my mind. I'd seen the wedding pictures, it was beautiful and there were guests in attendance. I decided Mike and I should consider the whole calendar. That made things much easier.

We soon had a decent list of options and a potential money saving plan, weddings Mon-Thurs are 20% off at our venue. I did refuse to consider Mondays though because nobody wants to party on a Monday night. Mike was pushing hard for February 29th. It was different, my flowers would still be in season and it would mean my birthday, Valentines and our anniversary in the same month. It occurred to me why he liked the date so much:
"Do you want to get married on leap year so we only have an anniversary every four years?"
"Yeah!!"
In the end that one didn't work since one of our groomsman is an expectant father and his wee one would be too tiny for his family to venture out. On top of which I don't like the idea of an anniversary every four years.

I had always wanted a St. Patrick's Day wedding, but that was taken at our venue. It's a good night for fairies. Leap year was out and April 21st was also taken at our venue. At the point that we opened up the calendar we liked the Friday the 13th option in April and March 21st (3-2-1, 1-2). Those were the front runners, but we had 4 back-ups all in April.

I went armed with my list of options, my checkbook and butterflies in my stomach to the venue. In the end we're having a weekday wedding on 3/21/12. Honestly, we loved the numbers and the discount. After booking the date I found out it is the vernal equinox, day and night are balanced equally. It's also the Baha'i observance of the vernal equinox symbolizing spiritual growth and renewal(a href="http://orl.usc.edu/religiouslife/holydays/page/13">Holy Days Calendar).

Sounds good to me. I like the idea of spiritual renewal on my wedding day. I also don't think Mike's likely to forget our anniversary being 3-2-1 (blast-off!).

15 comments:

  1. Katie, what luck and fortune to be married on the vernal equinox and one of my few holidays that i pay any attention to. good Job, Bride-Zilla; I am impressed by you !~!

    (most organized bride, said one vendor a while back !~!)

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  2. We chose our date because we thought D was only going to get one week off the week after Christmas and it was the best day we could decide on lol.... December 26th Sam

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  3. Hubby was deploying March 1. We were building a house and we wanted all the paperwork to be in my married name. We got married at the courthouse. They only married people on certain days of the week. My fav number is 6. We got married February 6. Amanda

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  4. Getting married on a Friday is cheaper than on Sat. or Sun. Just sayin.

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  5. Yeah, that part of why we chose a weekday.

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  6. Wikipedia told us that was the best week in terms of weather to get married in Savannah, and the weekend before was Easter. Kimberly

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  7. we had a random date in nov picked but my dad wasn't doing too well with his MS so we decided to move it up if we could so we asked the reception place if there was an earlier date we could have and they gave us a few to choose from so we chose what was suitable. Sandy W.

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  8. We started dating Aug 17 of '01, got engaged Aug 17 of 02' and got married Aug 17 of 04
    -Chance

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  9. I said," if were going to do it, we will do it in one month. No long drawn out stressful deal!" And we did. March 14th 1981.
    Sarah

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  10. We did May 5th - Cinqo de Mayo - because Tony said that all the tequilla and beer billboards the weeks before would make sure he never forgot! True story. Jean

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  11. June 21st - Summer Solstace :) Kate

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  12. July 3- we wanted fireworks and to be married on the 4th, but it was a leap year and the 4th was a Sunday. No one can throw a good kegger on a Sunday. ;) Alison

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  13. Question for you! If you chose a weekday -- a day when most people wouldn't have plans, as opposed to a weekend -- why did you opt to send "save the date" cards? Wouldn't it have been easier (fewer steps) to just send the wedding invitations?

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  14. Well, Anonymous about 40% of my guests are out of town. While weekdays are almost easier for locals travel and time off from work for the out of towners will be trickier. If I hadn't lived in 4 cites or didn't have scattered relatives we wouldn't have bothered.

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