Has anyone been invited to a wedding that starts at 5:30 pm on a Friday evening? We have, and it seems rude to start it at 5:30 when it’s not a Saturday. People will have to take a day off from work to attend, right? And for us it’s a four-hour drive, which also means we’ll have to stay overnight.
Send your regrets if you don’t want or can’t go.
For many, it’s cheaper that way and the couple understands that many won’t be able to come because of the time and day. But that’s a choice they made and now you can make your choice about whether or not you’re willing to do that.
I don’t find it particularly rude.
It’s very common to have a Catholic wedding on a Friday night. There are Saturday night services so it can’t be then so either Saturday afternoon or Friday night.
Honestly I am sure that having a wedding is very stressful and finding a church and a reception venue is hard and expensive. You try to accommodate all parties attending but you can’t please everyone.
Sorry that it’s inconvenient for you.
I’ve also gone to a Sunday wedding. It was a Jewish wedding. They couldn’t have it from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. In June it’s hard. So it was a Sunday wedding.
If it’s a 4 hour drive for you, you’d have to take some time off work even if it started later.
I’ve been to Friday weddings. I think they’ve started a bit later, but not much. 6:30 maybe.
We had our wedding a 6pm on a Friday. The judge who officiated said Friday or nothing. It did turn out everything cost much less for us and 99% of the people at the wedding were friends of ours who worked five minutes from the site of the wedding. (We got married on campus.) Since our family was on the East Coast and we were on the West Coast any of our family that came was going to have to take off time to get to us. The grooms parents hosted a party for us after the wedding where saw everyone who couldn’t make the trip. We completely understood the time wasn’t going to be great for everyone and had no problem with people sending regrets.
We have been to Friday, Saturday and Sunday night weddings. Cost is definitely a consideration in folks decisions. While I prefer to attend Saturday weddings, I don’t find it rude when other days are chosen by the couple.
It is an invitation, not a command performance. If you can leave work early and want to go, accept the invitation. If you can’t or don’t want to go, send your regrets. They know some people will not be able to make it because of the time, and will understand.
I think Friday weddings are a great cost-saving solution for many couples, and not at all rude – but the couple has to understand that there will be many who won’t be able to attend.
Why not try to reframe it in your mind as considerate for those who have to work on Saturdays and often have to take a day off to attend a Saturday afternoon wedding? 
I too have been to Catholic weddings on a Friday night. It’s not rude. It is what it is.
Jewish weddings are often on Sunday, and that might mean a 4 hour drive back after the wedding is over. If you can’t go, you can’t go.
My wedding was in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday that was a recognized holiday so most people had the day off from work. Excellent cost savings for the reception, live band, and our income taxes (the Saturday night was in the previous calendar year, our wedding was in the next calendar year), though a few sports fans complained that they couldn’t watch the Rose Bowl.
Yes, @Madison85, but weren’t most of the guests hung over before your reception even started?
Not that year, they had a day in between to recover.
One of my Ds was married on a Friday. The venue they wanted was booked two years in advance for Saturdays. Friday weddings are not that unusual, in our experience, and we usually attend about four or five weddings a year.
If it’s inconvenient for you, send your regrets! It certainly doesn’t sound like you want to attend.
A Friday evening wedding can be a lot of fun. You might only need to take a 1/2 day off from work. Attend the wedding and reception, then go to the hotel to continue the party with other guests (or just go to sleep). Head home Saturday morning and you still have more than half your weekend to do other things.
I prefer Fridays to daytime weddings where the reception ends at 5 or 6 PM. Especially during Daylight Savings Time, I hate coming out of a festive reception where I have been dancing and (undoubtedly) drinking–and discovering that the sun is still shining! Very disorienting (but I would go to the wedding anyway).
One of my daughter’s weddings this coming year is going to be on a Sunday evening. The venue is cheaper at that time. A majority of her guests, but not all (and none of the relatives) live in her city.
Wow 5:30 feels way too early. I’d got to a Friday night wedding that started at 7 or 7:30 and the rare Friday weddings I’ve been to did start more around the dinner hour as opposed as the leave the office hour 
, but I might think twice about a 5:30 one unless it were a really, really close friend if travel time was involved.
Not necessarily, my H and I both get off early, 5:30 wouldn’t be a problem for us. Though I realize we aren’t typical. Even those that are local might only have to leave the office a little earlier than normal (4 or 4:30?).
With that kind of drive (I’m assuming 4 hours both ways) you’d most likely have to stay overnight even if it were Saturday.
As others have stated, if you don’t want to or can’t then just decline the invitation. I think calling it “rude” is a bit much.
I’ve been to one Friday night wedding and it was beautiful…lots of candle light. (Can’t really do that on a Saturday afternoon!)
Its not rude to invite you a wedding at 5:30. If you cant make it, then send your regrets. For whatever reason, that time works for the couple, I am sure they will understand if everyone cant make it.
Son #1 is getting married on a Friday afternoon this coming spring. The (Catholic) church was available, the priest LOVES Friday weddings, the reception venue was available, and everything is much cheaper.
In this part of the country, you either plan a wedding 2 years in advance or you think creatively. Too many people and a limited number of times and weekend days equals a two year wait for reception venues. Our son and his fiance didn’t want to wait two years, so they opted for a more creative solution.
They were engaged in July, and immediately drew up a guest list, arranged for the church and reception venue, and sent out “Save the Date” cards to friends and family. Those who want to attend have 9 months advance “warning” to decide whether to take the time off to attend. So far, nobody has indicated that the day of the week will prevent them from attending. Some won’t be able to attend because they live too far away, but that problem exists no matter what the day of the week the wedding is held.
Friday weddings are very common here, so it doesn’t seem odd. However, a lot of people, if they are local, come only to the reception if getting off work is difficult.