Chicken dance? I had to google it. Interesting. 
^^Clearly not from the midwest. A staple.
I don’t get the long weekend one on the list but the others make some sense to me:
http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/611509/what-guests-hate-most-about-weddings?
We have received positive feedback about having a wedding the Sunday of a holiday weekend. No one will need to miss work.
So have we! it makes the travel day home a little pricier for some, but everyone seems to like having a full day to travel before and after the wedding.
I was surprised by the not liking a 3 day weekend. I like a three day weekend because it eliminates the need to feel rushed on Sunday.I think one factor might also be that airfare and hotels tend to be expensive on holiday weekends. In some locales such as mine alot of hotels will have minimum stay requirements certain times of the year.
Some people have long standing family traditions/reunions on holiday weekends…so, I can kind of see why it made list.
Bottom line: can’t please everyone with your choice of date…
We sent out emails to everyone on our guest list about the date…because we KNOW that some folks have holiday weekend events. A couple of folks thanked us…and said they will adjust their other family plans. We gave them OVER a years notice.
Michiganders covet their Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends … that would irk folks around here.
Guess they’ll hate us for the length of time between the wedding and reception. Oh, well … but it’s a hike between church & venue, and there could be traffic. There are cool places to hang near the reception, though, and it gives people time to check into the nearby hotel, since many are staying the night.
^^Clearly not from the midwest. A staple.
Hahaha, absolutely true; I forget that some people have never heard of the chicken dance.
D and FSIL drive next Tuesday. They are split between a wedding with 16 people in Oregon followed by a happy hour and sit down dinner—very urban and a dance party with their 100 friends the next weekend in Boston v.s. a large wedding if 150 here in Oregon.
Their first list was 260 guests. They are both in their 30’s and very social. They are now at 150 for guests.
FSIL talked with a venue in Boston and the owner offered him the venue free ( warehouse for a dance party) for some of his help as an architect.
Then the local sushi shop said they would feed 100 for $1200.
Here they would have a beautiful dramatic space (A theater space) that would hold 150 with a catered buffet and DJ
with loads of help through the venues wedding service.
Gads…I am not a wedding person and H and I went to New Zealand to avoid all of this (backfired but another
story).
Well, we should know by the end of next week which way to throw our hats…
P.S. D has long had her eye on this venue. This venue has never offered space after Labor Day
as it has to be between performances. This year they added 3 more dates and when D called
they had her very date open.
I am hoping for the small but as I write this am guessing the larger.
Wow, sushi for 100 for $1200 sounds amazing, especially with the free venue. Sounds like your D & FSIL have some interesting discussions and choices ahead, @oregon101.
How about larger wedding AND dance party? The free venue and the bargain sushi sound like too good of a deal to pass up.
Well, I got an email from my S last night that they have switched gears from a local indie designer for their invitations to considering minted.com. He said it’s been difficult dealing with small vendors and elicited opinions on their initial choices from the online invitations from both MOB and me. I know this was discussed upthread and I think I remember happy results, but if anyone has not had a positive experience with online invitation design and production, please let me know. If anyone can share particular details or concerns I should mention to them, I would be eternally grateful!
We found a venue and have a June 2018 date. Now comes flowers, music, photographers, etc. I’ll have to re-read the thread…
Also need to sort out rehearsal dinner location and look at how many people to include in that. Hoping to keep it to 40-50 people with a wedding of 150ish people. Since wedding venue is two hours from our home and four hours from B/Gs home, (as well as groom’s extended family), we are thinking about the smaller dinner, followed by some casual way to allow people to gather afterwards. Wonder how others are structuring the evening before and welcome ideas. It is helpful to hear people further down the road sharing what has worked for them.
Oregon’s son’s venue in Boston is not free, he has to give them architectural advice. How much, how detailed, liability, I would want that in a contract.
My S and his GF are attending the wedding of his college friends later in May. The couple are both law students at W&M, and the wedding is in Williamsburg. Should be lovely. I’m hoping it inspires them, lol.
Oregon, both options sound wonderful!
@runnersmom I’ve only heard good things about minted but they could also look online on ■■■■■■■■ - lots of independent purveyors with interesting options and they could check out reviews. Most there allow you to order a sample before committing.
We are looking at Minted, Wedding Paper Divas, and believe it or not…Shutterfly for invite ideas.
@travelnut, my S and FDIL wanted a very casual rehearsal dinner for out-of-town guests, family and members of their bridal party. Unfortunately, in our case, that will likely be 1/2 the guests, so between 75-100 people. Our solution is booking a beer hall with food vendors that has a private party space. It will not be a sit-down dinner, and the food will be served station-style based on the vendors in residence at the time. I have been to a wedding where the rehearsal dinner was limited to family/bridal party and everyone else was invited for an “after dinner meet and greet.” The only problem with that was that everyone was an out-of-town guest since that couple got married in her family’s summer home, a place where no one but her grandparents actually lived. It worked out fine, we went to dinner with friends who were also invited to the wedding and then on to the party, but I can tell you that the MOG (my friend) was not happy with this plan. She felt that since this was essentially a destination wedding (but not a resort-type wedding) the families should have provided for the guests. We were fine with it, but YMMV.