Mid-Week Weddings at Glen Tanar

Traditionally 60% of couples get married at the weekend. Saturdays have long been the most popular day of the week to tie the knot; however, a growing number of couples are bucking the trend by taking the plunge in to married life mid-week.

Summer is traditionally the most popular time of year to get married, and with only a limited number of Saturdays to choose from couples may struggle to get the exact date or venue that they want. Choosing a different day offers more flexibility and can often be cheaper.

Samantha and Derek Allan were married at Glen Tanar Estate, near Aboyne in the heart of Royal Deeside on a Thursday. They fell in love with the Scottish estate, and the couple were prepared for a sharp intake of breath with the costs having their dream wedding there. However, much to their surprise, their special day didn’t break the bank.

Samantha says, "We knew pretty much straight away that we wanted to get married at Glen Tanar, it was love at first sight for us. The scenery is stunning, and we just loved the traditional Victorian ballroom, complete with hundreds of stag antlers on the ceiling.

When we sat down with the organisers to go through dates and prices we noticed that it was significantly cheaper to book a mid-week wedding than it was for a weekend. Neither of us had really thought of getting married during the week, but when we added everything up it was just so much more cost-effective to get married on a weekday.

Glen Tanar was amazing with helping us plan everything; they even threw in the chair covers and ribbons for free as part of their mid-week package. And as we saved so much on booking the venue we were able to use the extra money to use on the catering, which was great!"

Some couples are apprehensive that a mid-week wedding may mean that some guests might have difficulty in attending. However, this sometimes works out for the better as it encourages people to book time of work if necessary and make a holiday out of the experience.

Samantha adds, "Getting married during the week doesn’t mean you will miss out on anything, in fact it made the planning so much easier, as we didn’t feel rushed on anything and there was even more availability on things we wanted. We were also able to go down to Glen Tanar the day before the wedding to check on everything and I’m guessing we might not have been able to do that if it had been at weekend as a lot of venues have back to back weddings all the time.

Getting married during the week just worked so well for us and I would definitely recommend it to anyone." So it seems you can still have your dream wedding on a budget and getting hitched during the week is one way of getting you there.

Mid-Week Weddings at Glen Tanar

Jane Lees, event manager at the Glen Tanar Estate says, "We have noticed quite a significant rise in the number of couples booking mid-week weddings as it’s more beneficial financially and from a planning point of view. We are able to offer a discounted rate on the ballroom during the week and we have much more availability than at weekends and I know that other services such as catering, florists and bands are also heavily committed on Saturdays.

If you really want the dream wedding, then sometimes mid-week is the way to go. For the events team at Glen Tanar, every wedding day is a special day no matter what day of the week it is held on. Making sure that we give couples a day to treasure is the only thing that matters to us."

Set in the heart of Royal Deeside and in the Cairngorms National Park, the Glen Tanar Ballroom is available for functions from weddings to conferences. For more information on Glen Tanar Estate, visit glentanar.co.uk or contact 013398 86451.

Credits: Photography by Clark Photographers.

1st December 2012