Thoughts of Summer - Setting the date for your wedding

Congratulations!

You've just gotten engaged, now everyone wants to know when the wedding is.

How do you pick the perfect wedding date?

The date is the most important step in planning the wedding. There are lots of different considerations and 365 days to choose from.

Your wedding date will forever symbolize a special moment in time for you, your fiancé and your families
The date you choose can also honor another special memory, such as your grandparents’ wedding date or the first date you and your fiancé met.  The date also helps to set the theme of the wedding because of the season in which you are choosing a date.

When you set the date for your wedding, you must keep a few things in mind:

If your heart is set on a specific location such as a church or reception site, you'll need to check right away. Popular venues book up fast…some are booked two or more years in advance, so call your special location asap to get dates available. Please keep in mind if the ceremony is at one location and the reception at another, you'll need to check both locations for date availability.

Put both of your work schedules on a calendar so you can avoid work conflicts. Putting your work schedules on a calendar also lets you schedule time to enjoy all the wedding festivities and your honeymoon.

Keep in mind the special dates of your parents. Note: Lots of parents do not want their children getting married on the date of previous marriages that didn’t last .

Plan around vacation time available for you both because you want a nice long honeymoon and you don’t want to have to rush, you will need the rest and relaxation after ALL that wedding planning!

If someone in your family or your fiancé's family is having an important birthday, such as their 50th, you’ll want to select another date.  Check with both of your families to make sure family members are not celebrating other special events on the date you wish to select such as weddings, the birth of a child, Graduations, and Milestone Anniversary parties . You don't want to compete. You want everyone to feel invited to your wedding.

If you are having a destination wedding or an outside wedding, you'll need to keep seasons in mind. The last thing you want to do is to choose a date and get rained out, or worse, stranded due to a tornado or hurricane!  During the winter months, it may be difficult for guests who live far away to travel during adverse weather.

A great resource for checking long-range weather forecasts is in the Old Farmers Almanac's accessed online at: http://www.almanac.com/  The Farmers Almanac takes solar activity, among other things, into consideration to predict weather. It's not 100% perfect. It’s reliability is about 75%.  But it is way more reliable than using weather averages for your wedding location.

When will the sunset on your wedding date? A wedding at sunset can be quite beautiful. It's also important to know when the sun is setting for taking wedding photographs.

Another consideration, when will the Moon Set? Today, a wedding under the light of the Moon can make for a magical ceremony!

Dreaming of a romantic Flathead Lake wedding remember that as the light hits the water, it's important to consider the sunrise and sunset times.

Flowers - you want to make sure that your favorite flowers are available for your wedding date. So check with your local florist to see what kinds of flowers are in season for your date and if they are able to do all the floral arrangements for your date.   At Christmas, many venues put up additional decorations and floral arrangements, so you can take advantage of this and save money in your budget.

Also, check to see if the Minister, Caterer, DJ or favorite Band, Cake Designer, or Photographer are available by checking to see if the date you have in mind is good for them. This way, you can save yourself heartbreak later on when you find out that you cannot use a service that you really wanted.

Wedding Dates when your guests might rather be somewhere else.
New Year's and Christmas ( between the 23th of December and the 5th of January)
Thanksgiving USA, the fourth Thursday of November & Canada, the second Monday of October.
Super Bowl weekend
The World Series
USA, the weekend before April 15 - tax day!
Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend - we find that wedding guests often have other plans for these weekends. It's also harder and more expensive to travel on those weekends.
Weekends that include a Friday the 13th
September 11th
Daylight savings days (since your guests may either arrive an hour early, or show up horribly late.)
Religious Holidays

We would love to hear the story of how you

set the perfect wedding date! 

Please use the comment link below and share your story.

Best wishes

and Congratulations on getting engaged!