The couple got married at Nestldown, a beautiful retreat surrounded by redwoods — and saved at least $8,000 on the venue because they booked it midweek, they said. Lucy negotiated shrewdly with every vendor she approached, stressing that the wedding was happening on a night when they otherwise wouldn’t be working. She also offered to pay cash — in full and up front — for all services.
The upshot: The Ashworths spent between $25,000 and $30,000 on a full-service, upscale wedding and reception that easily could have cost double that amount if it had taken place on a Saturday.
“I really do think that’s an insane amount to spend on a single day of your life,” Lucy Ashworth said. “I get that that’s nuts. But it was beautiful and gorgeous and it’s never, ever going to happen again. ... Because we planned for it, we came back from our honeymoon and we had no wedding debt at all.”
While many of the Ashworths’ 55 guests were perplexed by the choice of a Thursday night — and some found it challenging to line up baby-sitting on an off night — they ultimately had a blast.
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“Lucy and Charles’ wedding was intimate and relaxing,” said Evelyn Shapiro, a friend of the groom. “The day seemed magical.”
Nicole Lisanne, a wedding consultant and designer based in the San Francisco Bay area, helped the Ashworths plan their wedding. Lisanne said midweek weddings like theirs can work out well when couples give guests plenty of notice about the date. She also noted that guests at midweek weddings often enjoy reduced rates on hotels and flights, less traffic and less crowded restaurants at rehearsal dinners — plus they don’t have to sacrifice their entire weekend for a wedding.
“You just see much less stressed-out people,” she said.
In recent years, Lisanne has seen a sharp increase in the number of Thursday night rehearsal dinners followed by Friday night weddings.
“Fridays are kind of the new Saturday,” Lisanne said. “That might have been an effect of the economy. ...