picking a date

[TooPatient]

I used a MS word template to create a calendar from now until the end of 2011. I put all Jewish holidays (including the Three Weeks -- no weddings) and other holidays in and eliminated the days that won''t work (holidays/Shabbat) -- colored in red. The days I want to avoid (weekdays or holiday weekends) are in orange.

Now I am adding sunset times to the remaining days and plan to look at historic weather data and add it as well.


Not terribly romantic, but I''m hoping to find a date (late summer-fall 2011) that will allow for an outdoor wedding with minimized chances of bad weather (hence the historic weather data) and sunset at an early enough time that at least the reception can be candle-lit.


Based on this information, we can talk to potential venues and see what is available (we are far enough away that it shouldn''t be an issue) and eliminate any that have known plans for construction/remodel at that time...


How did you pick your date? Does is have special significance (other than being the day you will be married

) ?

 

[sunnyd]

That''s very...scientific of you TP!

We just picked a date that rolled off the tongue easily in the timeframe that we wanted (late fall, winterish). Voila! Date.

 

[caribqueen]

We didn't want to be engaged much longer than a year and wanted a date that would not coincide with my FI's Univ. teaching gig. Outside of that it was pretty much random.

 

[lilyfoot]

We knew we wanted to get married in October, and the 1st just seemed perfect, it''s a nice date (10/1/10), and it''s a Friday (we''re getting married at a courthouse, so it had to be a weekday).

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

We knew we wanted to get married on a sunday (for cost savings) so we wanted a long weekend. We chose July 5th because of the holiday, availability. Unfortunately last June/July we had a run of VERY unseasonable rain that lasted over 30 days. There was no way we could have foreseen it via historical data. Luckily the rain broke and the 5th was the first nice day in weeks.

 

[mayerling]

Date: 4/14/2010 6:38:39 PM
Author: sunnyd
That''s very...scientific of you TP!

We just picked a date that rolled off the tongue easily in the timeframe that we wanted (late fall, winterish). Voila! Date.

Ditto.

 

[bee*]

Ours was the only date the venue had left during summer ''09. They didn''t have a Saturday for four years, a friday for three years and we were lucky to get the Thursday due to a cancellation.

 

[RaiKai]

We started talking about our wedding plan and dates a couple days after we got engaged. Neither of us wanted to wait long and since none of our intended guests live near us anyway decided on a destination wedding on West Coast of Canada.

Originally we picked mid-December (two months later) but due to our guests schedules decided on January instead. DH called the resort next day to see what was available and booked for the first weekend which was a long one.

We were not set on seasons or anything, just wanting to do it soon so picked the nearest date that worked out for us, our small guest list and the resort! It was wonderful and we would not change a thing about it!

 

[hawaiianorangetree]

Too Patient.. we did something very simmilar to you! Made sure we didn''t choose a month where there were already birthdays/events/ anniversaries happening. We live in one of the windiest cities in the world so we chose a time when historically there was only a 60% chance of winds (as opposed to the 90% chance the month before) and when rain would be only a slight chance and when the temperature would still be nice. Once we picked the day i searched what time the sun would be setting and we planned the ceremony time around that. I even knew what phase the moon would be in! lol.

I have to say, the weather on our wedding day was perfect. A little hot for all the people waiting for us to show up but by the time we married the sun was setting, and there wasn''t a breath of wind. It was also turned out to be the last of the warm weather before winter kicked in!

People say that we were really lucky with the weather on our wedding day. I say that we were really lucky and SMART with the weather on our wedding day!

 

[elrohwen]

We wanted a Saturday in September. We didn''t want September 11th, the 18th is the day before DH''s birthday, so we went with the 25th. That was about it.

We were also thinking about getting to Oktoberfest four our honeymoon, so doing it on the 25th would allow us to get to Germany for the ver beginning of it. We didn''t end up going to Germany afterall, but that was part of the thought process.

 

[stephbolt]

We knew we wanted to get married this spring. First we found a venue. They had 2 Saturdays available in the April/May/June time frame. We picked one Saturday. FMIL freaked out because one of FI''s cousin''s children would be graduating from college that weekend and that meant one of her sisters wouldn''t be able to come. The other Saturday was out because one of my bridesmaid''s brothers was getting married that day. So we went to Friday. We picked the first Friday in May. Then we found out it was Mother''s Day weekend and flowers would be too expensive. So we moved it one Friday earlier. Voila!

 

[swimmer]

So TP, are Saturdays out for you then because sunset would be so late? Since you want candlelight...I donno how OK you are with getting ready during the Sabbath, but think about how Sat after sunset you are totally kosher. Also this is why Th night weddings are getting to be so popular in the modern Orthodoxy.

We got married on a Sunday late afternoon because Sat was out and the sunset in the south is so late in summer that the ceremony would have started at 9pm. Had to avoid any football weekend (no hotels, insane traffic) so went with Memorial Day weekend Sunday since people could recover/travel back on Monday. The other option was Columbus Day weekend, but that was out b/c of a sporting event in town that had all hotel rooms booked; a really good thing for any bride to check to make sure you aren''t getting married when other huge stuff is going on, I went to a wedding in Atlanta during the Olympics...PLANNING!.

 

[TooPatient]

Date: 4/15/2010 8:45:22 AM
Author: hawaiianorangetree
Too Patient.. we did something very simmilar to you! Made sure we didn''t choose a month where there were already birthdays/events/ anniversaries happening. We live in one of the windiest cities in the world so we chose a time when historically there was only a 60% chance of winds (as opposed to the 90% chance the month before) and when rain would be only a slight chance and when the temperature would still be nice. Once we picked the day i searched what time the sun would be setting and we planned the ceremony time around that. I even knew what phase the moon would be in! lol.

I have to say, the weather on our wedding day was perfect. A little hot for all the people waiting for us to show up but by the time we married the sun was setting, and there wasn''t a breath of wind. It was also turned out to be the last of the warm weather before winter kicked in!

People say that we were really lucky with the weather on our wedding day. I say that we were really lucky and SMART with the weather on our wedding day!

I''m happy to hear all of the analyzing worked out well for you.

We are in the Seattle area and (usually) weather seems to happen at generally the same time each year (usually). I''m obviously going to have a back up plan in case the weather doesn''t coooperate, but I''d like to minimize the risks as best I can.

 

[sunnyd]

I''d pretty much assume that the weather will not cooperate. I''ve been to an outdoor wedding in Aug and it rained. Plan for indoor or covered patio, then if it ends up not raining, great! Move it outside then.

 

[purselover]

That''s quite the science you have going on!

After we decided on a holiday wedding we looked for New Year''s day but it was taken, same thing with our second choice December 19th, 3rd choice December 24th I had to work, so we ended up with December 26th. Believe me I was not a happy camper at the time but it worked out well and I think it''s a fun anniversary!

 

[choro72]

Originally June because I thought I would have finished school by then, and our parents would have been here for my graduation anyway. This was canceled

For our February one, February because we didn''t want to worry about vendors overbooking, Saturday evening because FIL insisted, that particular weekend because MIL found it to be good luck with her Chinese calender.

For our civil ceremony, Thursday because the courthouse would be crowded on Saturday, and also because MIL again consulted her Chinese calender.

For our August Japan wedding, because it''s my birthday and I thought it would be cool.

 

[AustenNut]

We''re both teachers so we primarily chose our date based on the school calendar, as well as when fiance''s lease would be up.

If you have any special honeymoon plans (particularly if there''s a cruise or tour you''re interested in) then you may want to look at those dates and make sure it would work well with your wedding date.

 

[missjaxon]

We chose October 10, 2010 because it signifies to us that we have been together 10 years before we got married. I am also a very BIG fan of matching and even numbers! lol So it all worked out.

 

[redfaerythinker]

I wanted to be graduated from College and mom wouldn''t let us have it in Jan or Feb, so we picked the last Saturday before lent! Although as it turns out, we aren''t having a Catholic wedding so it didn''t matter anyways!

 

[PumpkinPie]

we picked the following weekend because it was the last few days of my parents'' visit with us

 

[FrekeChild]

January 9th, 2010

-I wanted to graduate first (December 19th 2009).
-My husband is a grad student so we needed to have it during: summer break, spring break, fall break or winter break.
-I''m not one for spring or summer weddings.
-Fall break is 2 days. That left winter break.
-Christmas was a scheduling factor since we chose winter break.
-Vegas is insane for New Years, so that was a factor.
-January is the slowest month of the year for Vegas weddings (minus NYE and NYD).
-January is a slow month in general for Vegas.
-My husband, the math nerd, wanted a cool date. If it couldn''t be 8-9-10 or something like that, he wanted something else that made sense mathematically, hence the 1+9=10. Don''t get me started...

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more thought went into this, as I look back on it now, than I thought at the time.

 

[KatyWI]

I got married September 4th, just like my parents, and my mother''s parents.

I hope my future kids will keep the tradition going!