Marry on Friday - It's a Good Day for a Wedding

by Jennifer Cram - Brisbane Marriage Celebrant  ©  19 July 2019  | Days of the Week |

There are many wedding superstitions for which there is absolutely no evidence. The old wedding rhyme about how lucky various days of the week are for marrying, being one of them, claiming
However, if you look at older beliefs and traditions, and delve into the history of why we call the fourth last day of the working week,  Friday,  there are many relevant and  interesting reasons for choosing to marry on a Friday

Why we call it Friday

The Babylonians knew of only five planets, so they named five days after them, and tagged the other two days after the Sun and the Moon. The Romans adopted the practice when they standardised on a seven day week (used to be 8 days in the Roman week, how confusing was that?)

Taking their lead from the Babylonians, they named what we call Friday for the planet Venus, and therefore the day was believed to be ruled by Venus, the goddess of love, sex, beauty, and fertility. In some areas, she was also regarded to be the goddess of gardens

In Rome, Friday  was called Dies Veneris (or Venus' Day) and Romance languages such as Spanish, French, and Italian reflect this in what they call Friday (viernes, vendredi, venerdi_ - so how did we English-speakers get Friday?  History again - our English names for days of the week have been influenced by Germanic and Norse myths and the Anglo-Saxon roots of our language.

A fun reason for getting married on Friday

Friday is named after Frigg or Freya, the Norse goddess of love and marriage and wife to Odin. She who travelled in a chariot pulled by her cats.

Benefits of having your wedding on a Friday

Although Friday is quite rapidly becoming the new Saturday, when it comes to scheduling weddings, being the last day of the working week, Friday sort of straddles the space between a weekday wedding and a weekend wedding.

When you schedule your wedding on a Friday you may be able to

• Negotiate a discount for the venue
  
• Negotiate a discount for some suppliers (others may treat the day as a weekend day)
  
• Weddings with short planning time
• Greater possibility of availability of the venue if you've got your heart set on a very popular one

Being the last day of the working week, guests will have the Friday feeling, will be more inclined to take a day off for your wedding because they will have their normal weekend with the bonus of your wedding to kick-start it, but, depending on the time of day you choose, you may be able to limit the number guests more easily than you could on a weekend.

You can make marrying on a Friday a lot easier if you

• Check whether your chosen Friday is a public holiday either where you are getting married or where your guests are traveling from. Be aware that days like Good Friday may reduce availability of venues and other wedding service providers
  
• Send out your save the dates as early as possible
• Make sure you mention that your wedding is on a Friday (as well as the date)
• Tell your nearest and dearest by you've picked that particular Friday (and why you really do want them at your wedding
• Be prepared for people declining - and don't take it personally

Thanks for reading!