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christene · 08-19-2009, 08:56 AM

Our wedding is on a Saturday but I did do a lot of research on airfare because we are paying for 13 tickets! At least with Delta it didn't seem to make a difference what day you fly in and out. I think it starts to make a difference as the dates get closer and planes start to fill, but if you're far enough out it looked like the fares were the same regardless of day. You just need to realize that the airlines (at least some) don't fly there every day. For example, we found out that Delta doesn't fly to / from Aruba on Tuesdays (at least in October), and Continental doesn't fly in / out on Wednesdays. You will likely find flights on any day but if you find them to be obscenely expensive that is why - they're putting you through other airlines. At 4 months out we were able to fly from Grand Rapids, MI or Indy for less than $500, from Detroit for just over $400 and from Newark for less than $400. Not bad at all.

I did read that you can save a lot of money by selecting a weekday (a general budget saving tip), however that was not our experience. For the hotel, we negotiated a group rate which is the same for any day. We committed to two nights and our guests can stay up to three days before and up to three days after those dates at the contracted rate. In our negotiations we didn't find any particular day or the week to cost more or less - the exception being a civil ceremony on a Saturday does incur come extra cost (is it $150?). All our catering and set-up fees were going to be exactly the same for any day. At least that is the case with the Aruba Marriott. This may be different elsewhere. (One option we had looked at was reserving Passions restaurant for our reception - our planner told us she had a reception there and they were able to reserve the whole restaurant. That was on a Tuesday though and I wouldn't be surprised if something like that was significantly higher on a Friday or Saturday.)

For us we wanted to keep it on Saturday so our guests don't have to take too much time off of work. Most are coming Thursday leaving Sunday or Monday.

08-19-2009, 08:56 AM	#4 (permalink)
christene Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 190	Our wedding is on a Saturday but I did do a lot of research on airfare because we are paying for 13 tickets! At least with Delta it didn't seem to make a difference what day you fly in and out. I think it starts to make a difference as the dates get closer and planes start to fill, but if you're far enough out it looked like the fares were the same regardless of day. You just need to realize that the airlines (at least some) don't fly there every day. For example, we found out that Delta doesn't fly to / from Aruba on Tuesdays (at least in October), and Continental doesn't fly in / out on Wednesdays. You will likely find flights on any day but if you find them to be obscenely expensive that is why - they're putting you through other airlines. At 4 months out we were able to fly from Grand Rapids, MI or Indy for less than $500, from Detroit for just over $400 and from Newark for less than $400. Not bad at all. I did read that you can save a lot of money by selecting a weekday (a general budget saving tip), however that was not our experience. For the hotel, we negotiated a group rate which is the same for any day. We committed to two nights and our guests can stay up to three days before and up to three days after those dates at the contracted rate. In our negotiations we didn't find any particular day or the week to cost more or less - the exception being a civil ceremony on a Saturday does incur come extra cost (is it $150?). All our catering and set-up fees were going to be exactly the same for any day. At least that is the case with the Aruba Marriott. This may be different elsewhere. (One option we had looked at was reserving Passions restaurant for our reception - our planner told us she had a reception there and they were able to reserve the whole restaurant. That was on a Tuesday though and I wouldn't be surprised if something like that was significantly higher on a Friday or Saturday.) For us we wanted to keep it on Saturday so our guests don't have to take too much time off of work. Most are coming Thursday leaving Sunday or Monday.