There are two kinds of people in this world: People that reserve the weekend after Thanksgiving for sandwiches and sleeping on the couch, and people that take advantage of those Black Friday and subsequent weekend sales to get a brand new laptop or big-screen TV.
However, there’s a third group of people that are far-less heralded—the people who get married the weekend after Thanksgiving. While perhaps not nearly as well-known as the two aforementioned groups, people who get married on this particular weekend of the year do indeed exist. Traditionally, Thanksgiving weekend is a time of the year that is reserved for family, and what happens when you get married? Your family grows, that’s what. So, theoretically, a wedding on the weekend after Thanksgiving is somewhat fitting when family growth is factored into the equation.
Plus, if you think about it, having a wedding is very similar to hosting Thanksgiving. You welcome guests into a party that you’re hosting, and encouraging them to eat, drink, and be merry while getting acquainted with family and friends. So it goes, combining the two events actually makes a lot of sense! A beautiful Thanksgiving weekend wedding can coordinate all of your favorite things under one central theme—along with the addition of a truly delicious autumnal color scheme!
Of course, there are some downsides to the endeavor of throwing a Thanksgiving weekend wedding and some guests might get a tad rankled at the prospect of attending a wedding on the weekend after one of the biggest eating days of the year—especially considering the fact that they have to worry about fitting into a dress or suit after stuffing themselves silly! So if you’re feeling like a turkey on a fence and not quite sure if this is a good idea or an absolutely terrible concept, take a look at this list of the pros and cons of getting married during the weekend after Thanksgiving and decide for yourself!
Pro: Get Everyone Together For The Holiday
As stated above, Thanksgiving is the quintessential holiday for the coming together of family and friends. And a wedding during this particular weekend sets the stage for the ultimate gathering of loved ones in a setting that beams with love and affection. You’ll be able to capitalize on the warmth and cheer inherit in this particular time of year, as you watch with pure joy as your family grows exponentially. A wedding during this weekend also serves to positively alter future Thanksgivings, as the memory of your wedding day will live on and be reminisced about during subsequent holiday celebrations.
Con: It’s A Stressful Time Of Year
The fact that it’s a family oriented holiday is precisely why some people don’t particularly care for Thanksgiving. There are certain overwhelming familial pressures that come along with the weekend following turkey day and adding a wedding to the mix could be a stressful overload for you, your partner, and some of your family and friends. And any time stress is added to a social gathering, it inherently saps much of the fun out of it. The result is a wedding with less of a party vibe and more of an uptight, tense, pressurized atmosphere where fewer people are dancing and no one is in the mood for being in dozens of photos.
Pro: Control The Size Of Your Guest List
As you probably already know, a wedding guest list can go completely out of control and balloon to proportions well beyond your projections and inch dangerously close to your wedding venue’s maximum capacity. If you’re looking to reduce the size of your guest list without flat out leaving certain people, a Thanksgiving weekend wedding is a great way to cleanly trim the turnout. Lots of people spend Thanksgiving either out of town or so busy that they’ll never be able to fit a wedding into their schedule. Your closest family and friends will definitely make time, but anyone on the fringe might naturally rule themselves out of attending.
Con: Cherished Guest Might Miss Out
Then there’s the chance that guests you actually want to be in attendance at your wedding won’t be able to make it because of unbreakable holiday responsibilities. Family commitments are hard to break in the first place, add to the equation that fact that it’s Thanksgiving weekend and there are traditions that must be upheld make it near impossible. What’s more, some invitees who are close to you might feel obligated to break their usual holiday plans in order to be at your wedding—and this could cause them to label you as selfish, which could lead to many uncomfortably awkward moments at the nuptials and at future gatherings.
Pro: A Great Opportunity For A Fun Wedding Theme
Thanksgiving provides a chance for an amusing theme to play with at your wedding. Of course, there’s the autumn color palette that you can infuse into your wedding in numerous ways, including floral arrangements, table linens, seat covers, and much more. You can also bring a Thanksgiving theme into dessert, trading in the traditional cake for an array of seasonal pies—most notably, pumpkin pie, which has become the decadently sweet symbol of this particular time of year.
Con: Guests Might Be Dealing With Holiday Overload
There’s so much eating to be done this time of year, that it can feel like a chore! Thanksgiving is the day of the year when people tend to overeat the most and this could clash with your plans to feed your guests an array of culinary delights during the cocktail hour, reception, and at every moment in between. The holiday bloat might prevent this as guests could either be still full from turkey day or merely not in the mood to eat yet another big meal. And as we all know, holding oneself back from enjoying food runs counter to the spirit of weddings, which normally boast their deeply ingrained culinary aspects
Consider A Thanksgiving Wedding!
If you think about it, each and every time of the year has their own downsides to staging a wedding—summer is too hot, winter is too cold, everyone has allergies in the spring, and the fall is too busy! But the fact of the matter is, if you have year heart set on holding your wedding during a particular time of the year, then that’s what you should strive for! Look for the positives to whichever time of year you choose to get married! And if your wedding is during Thanksgiving weekend, chances are your guests will give thanks that they were invited!
