Friday, Sunday and Off-Season Weddings: What You Really Save
The day of the week moves the price more than almost anything else. Real venue rates, what changes for your guests, the truth about holiday weekends and the best quiet months, region by region.
The single most expensive word in wedding planning is Saturday. Almost every venue, and many vendors, set their prices around the fact that most couples want the same night of the week in the same six months of the year. Step off that night, or out of those months, and the prices start to move.
The numbers are real, but they are not magic. Here is what changes when you choose a Friday, a Sunday, a weekday or a quieter season, and what it asks of your guests in return.
What the numbers say
The day of the week. Zola’s 2026 guide to venue costs estimates that a Friday or Sunday wedding typically saves 10 to 20 percent on the venue compared with a Saturday, and a Monday-to-Thursday wedding 30 to 40 percent. The Knot’s 2026 Real Weddings Study names “weekend vs. weekday” among the factors with the biggest effect on what a wedding costs.
A real rate card. Averages hide a lot, so it helps to look at an actual one. Morris Arboretum & Gardens of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, publishes its rental rates. For October 2027, as listed in September 2026, a Saturday costs $7,000, a Friday $5,800 and a Sunday $5,300. In July 2027, a Sunday is $2,800. Evening weddings from Monday to Thursday are listed at $2,800. That is the room alone, but it shows the pattern: the same space at less than half the price, depending on the day and month.
The month. Season matters less than most couples expect. The Knot’s study found that 2025 weddings held from July to September averaged $35,400, while those from January to March and from October to December averaged $33,200. The biggest savings come from combining an off-peak day with an off-peak month.
Popularity. The Knot reports that 76 percent of couples marry between May and October, with June and October the busiest months. That concentration is exactly why the other half of the calendar is cheaper.
The biggest savings come from combining an off-peak day with an off-peak month.
Where the savings actually come from
Venue rental fees fall the most, as the rate card shows.
Food and beverage minimums often fall too. Many venues and caterers require you to spend a minimum amount on catering, and that figure is often lower on a Friday, Sunday or in the off-season. Ask for the whole rate sheet, not just the Saturday column.
Vendors may be more flexible. Photographers, bands and florists can’t take two Saturdays at once, so an off-peak date may bring a lower price or extra hours. Don’t expect it from everyone. Many price by the hour whatever the day, and a flower that is out of season costs the same on a Tuesday.
Food and drink per guest rarely change. A plated dinner costs about the same to cook on any night. For where the rest of the money goes, see what a wedding costs.
What changes for your guests
Friday. Guests have to leave work early or take the day off, and those driving in may meet rush-hour traffic. A ceremony at six or later helps, and so does warning people nine to twelve months ahead. Local guests usually manage easily; those flying in often make a long weekend of it.
Sunday. Often the easiest alternative. Guests travel on Saturday, and the party can start earlier, with a late-afternoon ceremony, an early dinner and a finish by ten. Those flying home may need Monday morning off.
Weekdays. Expect more regrets, especially from guests with young children, inflexible jobs or long journeys. Weekday weddings suit a smaller guest list, a local crowd or a couple who want a quieter day; see micro weddings and elopements. A weekday evening can feel wonderfully relaxed, and a short celebration after work is perfectly correct.
For every non-Saturday date, put the day of the week on the save-the-date and the invitation, not only the date, and give guests more notice than usual. The archive’s guide to sending invitations has the timeline, and your wedding website can explain the schedule.
Holiday weekends
A Sunday before a Monday holiday gives you the best of both: most guests don’t work the next day, and the venue’s Sunday rates may apply. In 2027, those Sundays include May 30 (before Memorial Day), September 5 (before Labor Day) and October 10 (before Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which not every employer observes).
There are catches. Many venues know how popular those Sundays are and price them like Saturdays, so check. Flights and hotels cost more on holiday weekends. Some guests will already have family plans, especially around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. And a holiday weekend in a beach or lake town means competing with every other visitor for rooms. Book the hotel block early.
The best off-season months, region by region
The off-season is off for a reason, usually weather. The trick is to choose a quiet season whose weather you can live with, or even enjoy.
Northeast and Midwest: January to March. The cheapest dates of the year in cold-winter places, with snow as the obvious risk. Candlelight, velvet and a fire can make a winter wedding the most atmospheric of all; see our winter wedding ideas. November, after the leaves fall and before the holidays, is another quiet month. Avoid peak foliage weekends in New England, which fill early and cost more.
Florida, the Gulf and much of the South: summer. Heat, humidity, afternoon storms and the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30 and peaks in September, make summer the quiet time. Winter and spring tend to be high season for Florida weddings.
The desert Southwest: summer. In Phoenix, Scottsdale, Palm Springs and Las Vegas, high summer is the off-season, because daytime highs routinely top 100 degrees. Resorts often discount. An evening ceremony indoors, or high in the mountains, makes it workable. Winter and spring are peak.
The Pacific Northwest: late fall through early spring. The rainy months are quiet and cheaper; summer is dry, beautiful and booked well ahead. A covered venue makes a winter date easy.
Mountain towns: the shoulder seasons. Ski resorts are busy in winter and summer and quiet in between, usually in spring, when the snow melts, and late fall.
California: winter. Coastal and wine-country venues are busiest from late spring to fall. Winter brings rain but also lower prices and green hills.
For how each season looks, tastes and feels on the day, and which flowers are at their best, see choosing the date and the archive’s flowers by season.
How to ask for the deal
- Ask for the full rate sheet for every day and month, not just the date you had in mind.
- Ask what’s included off-peak: a lower food and beverage minimum, extra hours, a free rehearsal space.
- Be flexible on the date and let the venue suggest one. A venue with an unsold Friday in six months has a reason to help.
- Book late, carefully. Venues sometimes discount open dates within the year. It is a gamble on availability, not a plan.
- Get every discount in writing in the contract.
Choose the date that suits the people you most want there. If that happens to be a Sunday in March, the savings are a pleasant bonus.
Written and edited by the Today’s Weddings editors. How we research and check what we publish is set out in our editorial standards. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
