Wedding Dates to Avoid For 2023

Your wedding date will be imprinted on your mind as the most important date of the year and we bet you’re counting down the months and weeks until you can turn the calendar to reveal that special day.

But, imagine if that very same date is also at the forefront of many of your guests’ minds, but for a very different reason. Perhaps it’s a sporting event they simply cannot bear to miss or maybe it’s a public holiday and they had hoped to be on holiday then.

Choosing your wedding date shouldn’t just be a case of picking a season and seeing what dates the venue has to offer. It’s important to give this aspect of wedding planning a bit more consideration or you might find yourself getting more than the average amount of ‘sorry, we can’t make it’ RSVPs or be the victims of pesky last-minute drop-outs.

To make sure your day is the most important in everyone’s social calendar that year, you might want to avoid several dates with events already planned in 2023. We’ve put together a list of all the dates in the next few years that might be best to avoid if you don’t want half the congregation camped out in the bar watching the footie or worse, celebrating at some other event they said yes to first.

There used to be a traditional season for weddings that ran from early spring to late summer, but these days couples are choosing to get married every single month of the year.

That said, there are still months that are much more popular than others and therefore are more expensive. In order to get the best deals on venue hire and supplier costs, it pays to look outside these months to the cheapest times of the year.

The cheapest time of year to get married in the UK is when the weather is colder so you’ll find the most budget-friendly months to get married are November, January, February and March. Although December is the height of winter, it can be a little more expensive than other cold months as lots of couples want a Christmas or New Year’s Eve wedding.

December is still much cheaper than the most expensive wedding months of May, June, July and August though.

 

Which month has the least amount of weddings?

It’ll come as no surprise to hear that the least popular month of the year to get married is in January. A lot of people find January a really miserable month due to the short, dark days and the fact that Christmas has been and gone, so it can actually be a really savvy move to book a January wedding to add some excitement to your guests’ new year calendars.

According to a 2017 survey, only 6,200 weddings took place in January compared to over 37,000 in the most popular month of August.

As obvious as it sounds, the first thing to check is your own calendar. While your wedding is, of course, the most important date to you, it isn’t going to go down very well if you book it on the weekend of your mum’s 60th or sister’s 30th for example. Make sure to take into account family birthdays, anniversaries, and other family or friends’ weddings.

Believe us when we say, you don’t want to be the couple whose wedding takes place during a world cup final featuring England (in our dreams!), with guests sneakily watching the match on their phones rather than watching as you walk down the aisle.

Make sure to pay attention to where the sporting events are taking place too, in case the sudden increase in traffic plays havoc with your transport plans. If you’re getting married in Twickenham for example, you need to make sure you allow a lot of extra time and warn your guests of traffic jams if it’s during the Six Nations.

Here are the key sporting dates over the next few years to avoid or be prepared for…

 

2023 Sporting Events

9 February – 26 March: Cricket (World Cup)

9 – 25 June: European Games

8 September – 21 October: Rugby (World Cup)

Depending on your beliefs and superstitions you may or may not pay any notice of so-called unlucky dates to get married. But if you prefer to err on the side of caution, these are the dates that historically have been thought to prove unlucky for the couple getting married.

Friday the 13th days:
Friday 13 January
Friday 13 October 2023

The Ides of March:
15 March

St Joseph’s Day:
19 March

Leap years:
2024 is a leap year, so if you want to be able to celebrate all your anniversaries steer clear of 29 February.

Just imagine your surprise if you were getting married in London’s Soho and hadn’t checked when Pride was due to take place. Or perhaps you’ve chosen the last weekend in August and Notting Hill for your reception (err hello carnival!).

While the atmosphere for your big day would certainly be second to none, actually getting to your venue might be a little trickier with the celebratory crowds.

Or it could be you’ve always dreamed of having a brilliant firework display to end your big day. You could “borrow” a display from a nearby Guy Fawkes event with a well-timed wedding or it might be best to completely steer clear of any November displays and have fireworks of your own that won’t be drowned out by larger events. Make sure to look up annual events that are local to your venue and check that they won’t get in the way of any plans.

Pride (across the UK at various dates in the year so check your local area info):

Notting Hill Carnival:
27 – 28 August 2023

Halloween (or nearest weekend):
27 – 29 October 2023

Guy Fawkes Night:
5 November 2023

Some couples specifically want to have their wedding on a bank holiday weekend so that they can make the most of a full three days’ worth of celebrating without anyone having to take time off work. This is often the case for destination weddings when longer journeys are involved.

The May and August UK bank holidays are particularly popular times for weddings… and unfortunately for holidays!

2023 Public Holidays

1 January:
New Year’s Day

2 January:
Substitute Bank Holiday for New Year’s Day

3 January:
Public Holiday Scotland

1 March:
St David’s Day (Wales)

17 March:
St Patrick’s Day (Ireland)

19 March:
Mother’s Day

7 – 10 April:
Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday

29 April – 1 May:
Early May Bank Holiday weekend

27 – 29 May:
Spring Bank Holiday Weekend

18 June:
Father’s Day

5 – 7 August:
Bank Holiday Weekend Scotland

26 – 28 August:
Bank Holiday Weekend

30 November:
St Andrew’s Day Scotland

24 – 26 December:
Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day

31 December:
New Year’s Eve

Even if you’re not religious yourselves, some religious holidays may have an impact on the date you might want to book your wedding. If a large percentage of your guests are Muslim and you plan your wedding during Ramadan for example, then they will be fasting during daylight hours and won’t be able to enjoy your three-course wedding feast and may choose not to attend.

Easter
Palm Sunday:
2 April 2023

Easter Sunday:
2 April 2023

Passover
From sunset on:
5 April 2023

Ramadan (can vary based on the lunar calendar)
22 March – 20 April 2023

Ram Navami
30 March 2023

Eid al-Fitr (can vary based on the lunar calendar)
21 – 22 April 2023

Eid al-Adha
28 June 2023

Tisha B’Av
From sunset on:
26 July 2023

Rosh Hashanah
From sunset until nightfall on:
15 – 17 September 2023

Yom Kippur
From sunset until nightfall on:

24 – 25 September 2023

Hanukkah

From sunset until nightfall on:
7 – 15 December 2023

Christmas
December 25:  Monday in 2023

Krishna Janmashtami
6 September 2023

Days of Remembrance
Remembrance Day:  2023