Time Off Before The Wedding
January 21st, 2008 @ 5:25 pm by Mrs. Toucan
This morning Mr. Toucan and I started talking about our vacation schedules and how much time we planned to take off before the wedding (Mr. Toucan’s job requires a lot of notice for vacations). I am planning on taking the 3 days before the wedding off, while Mr. Toucan was planning on taking just the day before off. Notice the word “was” in that sentence.
When I said I was taking 3 days off before the wedding, he looked at me like I had 4 heads.
“You are taking Wednesday off too?”
Umm… yeah. I told him that we’d be going crazy the last few days before the wedding, tying up loose ends… you know, all that good stuff. I’d take the whole week off if I could. “Um.. Okay,” he responds. “I guess I’ll take Thursday off too.”
How much time are you taking off/did you take off before your wedding? How about your fiance/spouse?
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36 Responses to “Time Off Before The Wedding”
I will take Wednesday on off. Mr. Pengy will take Thursday on off, which means he will come into town on Wednesday Night!
Honestly, I think thats enough time for him. Any more time off than that is just wasting vacation days 
I definitely need more “prep days” than he does!
I’m taking Wed, Thur, and Friday off and so aremy maids of honor. My mom is a teacher so she’ll already be off. Fiance’s time off has yet to be determined, I’ll probably push for Thursday and Friday.
We are taking 4 days before off and the week after. I am from Dallas and he is from Indianapolis but we now live in Phoenix so we are treating ours like a destination wedding, since everyone will be flying in. We decided since we are paying for the wedding ourselves that we will wait till feb (wed in oct) for the honeymoon. Is anyone else waiting for a honeymoon? Are we going to wish we had it right after?
I took off three days before our wedding and I was glad, but I think a week would of done good. DH took only two day off. I think there’s more to do for us women than the men. So I think three days is good. You’ll still find last minute things to do right up to the wedding.
I’m taking the whole week before off (and three plus weeks afterward!). I don’t want to have to worry about WORK that week 
I’ll have enough to think about!
My wedding was on a Friday, and I took the whole week before off. My 2 bridesmaids came in from out of town on that Tuesday so we did our bridesmaid/girls’ night stuff Tuesday night, then got to work on last-minute wedding things Wednesday - I don’t know how I would have managed without taking that time off!
Ditto for me, Toucan!
I took off starting Wednesday, and it was faaaabulous. Mr. E took off Friday only and I think it worked out great. I dont know what he would have done on Thursday if he had taken that off too. We were done with everything by then…
I think it depends on your situation. If your having family arrive from out of town and/or pre-wedding festivities that will affect the decision.
I took the whole week off and think it made me so much more relaxed. I tied up a ton of loose ends on Monday and Tuesday while he worked those two days. It was nice to not have him there in my way really. I had my hair cut, facial, waxing done early in the week. I even had the oil changed in my car since we were driving to our honeymoon location and it needed to be done.
Wednesday night the family started arriving and Thursday I went and had a massage and body scrub with my MOH and that night we all went out with our bridal party for a fun night of dinner and drinks.
Friday, my girls and I had our nails done and had lunch and then got ready for the rehearsal.
If you don’t have that many activities going on ahead of time, you don’t need that much time off, but I think that week off was wonderful!
The last few weeks are really hard to juggle all the wedding details and work so the sooner you can get the “work” stuff on the back burner the better.
I’m taking Thurs and Fri off, DF is only taking Fri off - I’d love to take the whole week off, but I’d rather use my vacation time for the HM!
Since we live in Seattle and we’re getting married in NY, we’ll both be taking the week before off, and we’re not sure about after/honeymoon stuff yet. Probably a week or two… I’ve never taken a leave of absence before, and I am looking forward to it!
Labor Day was the Monday before our wedding, so I took the week off…I also planned everything so that I could actually get married the Saturday before…that way the week of the wedding, I just had to deal with family and any pop up issues.
I had exams just weeks away and my hubby had only a week left at his old job (he changed jobs the week we got married, lol). We couldn’t afford to take much time off, so I took off the Friday afternoon the day before, and he took off the day on Friday.
We live in NY but got married in TX so we both took the entire week off before the wedding and flew down 6 days before the ceremony.
The last time we’d been in TX was 3 months before the wedding, and so we had plenty of things to finish up when we got down there…including getting our license!
For us, it was perfect, but I can see why that would be too much for some people.
I’m taking off a whole month after the wedding, and three months after 
(I’m a grad student, and by “taking off” I mean working on my dissertation.)
Seriously, though, I’m headed to Cleveland a week before the wedding; Mr. D will join me Tuesday night. He’s taking 3 weeks off total (2 weeks for the honeymoon!), and has been squirreling away vacation days for more than a year.
TIME OFF? HAHAHAHA. Funny.
The head off my lab scheduled a thesis committee meeting for me THE DAY BEFORE MY WEDDING to ensure that I wouldn’t take time off (he is not pleased that I am going on a honeymoon). Did I mention that I don’t even live
where I’m getting married and I will BE LATE TO MY OWN REHEARSAL DINNER as a result? I kid you not. My thesis committee meeting is scheduled to go until 5pm, and the rehearsal dinner is scheduled to start at 7:30, and it is a 4 hour drive from where I am to where the rehearsal dinner is. And I guarantee I will not be able to walk straight to the car at 5pm and be on my merry way.
My mother is FURIOUS with me and refuses to accept that this isn’t my fault… but I cannot cancel a committee meeting, period. And I don’t want to get on the bad side of my PI, since he controls how many years until I get my Ph.D. So, we’re just going to go ahead and start the rehearsal dinner… without me! I just hope I show up in time for dessert, yum.
I took 3 days off as well starting on a Wed. My hubby is a teacher so the lucky duck was off already since we got married in August!
mr bee didn’t take any days off. but it was fine since i handled most of the details.
I’m taking the week before off.. maiinllyyy becaaause I’ll be doing our flowers and making our cake My boss thinks I’m crazy because she had to talk me into taking time AFTER the wedding off too. Mr. BG is taking a couple of days, but not as much.
We’re getting married on a Friday. I will probably take off starting the Wednesday before. My fiance is taking off on Tuesday. He’s flying to New Mexico so that he can ride back with the best man - sort of a bachelor road trip. They’re renting a sports car, all that jazz.
After the wedding, we’re not taking time off. We both just started new jobs, so getting time off before the wedding was difficult. Our honeymoon will be . . . eventually. Some day!
I will be finished at my job/internship about a month before our wedding date, so I guess I have a month “off”, and FI graduates about a month before as well, and will just be working part time until then… but, our wedding is out of town and we’ll be moving out of state a month after our wedding so I will still have lots to do!
I’m getting married June 7th, plan on quitting my job at the end of April, and will spend the entire month of May MOVING to an entirely different city which is TBD thanks to Match Day. Then, I’ll start seminary in the fall. So, in a way, I’m taking a month off before the wedding and 2 months afterward.
I’m geting married August 30th and I am also planning on quitting my job somewhere around june/july and interviewing for jobs starting in September. I figure I’ll take a month off to be home and handle the chaos of the wedding. Since I live on the east coast and my wedding is in California, I think it’ll be much needed.
you definitely need time off. my husband took the wk before off and unfortunately i did a long marathon of work days prior to the wedding (the wk before i worked 7 out of the 8days) and then i had the 3days prior to the wedding off. i wish i had a longer break to tie off loose ends and to spend time with the out-of-town family that came
This is a source of constant conversation for us. I would like to take the whole week off to relax, perhaps do some last minute things and spend time with OOT guests. My FI thinks one or 2 days should be enough. It sounds like he may be right, but if his best friend comes into town early I think he should take the time off to spend with him.
We’re getting married out of state, so I’m flying up to the town where the wedding is like Tuesday, but he isn’t coming up till the day before.
Julieulie, that’s awful! Are the committee members married? What jerks.
We both took the day before off, and I took a half day on Thursday.
I also took a day off after we got back from our HM to write thank you notes, unpack, etc.
Julieulie, I understand that you don’t want to piss off your PI… but is there someone else you can talk to?
We’re both taking the whole week off, but we live in AL, and the wedding is in Chicago, so we’ll be driving up the Sunday before.
In terms of after, we’re taking three days off for a little rest and a slow drive back, but we’re postponing our honeymoon for a few months.
We’re both taking Thurs and Fri off before the wedding, flying out to the wedding destination Wednesday night. I probably won’t get any work done Wednesday, but I plan to physically be in the office anyway
We got married on Sunday 10-14-07, and I took off work from Wednesday 10-10-07 returning on Monday 10-22-07… Our Honeymoon was booked for November so I then was off work from Friday 11-16-07 returning Monday 12-3-07 (Two weeks in Maui - YAY)
It was hectic getting caught up with work after two vacations back to back, but it was nothing like planning a wedding so it worked out just fine!!!
Wedding 12 days off (including weekends)
Honeymoon 17 days off (including weekends)
I’ve been saving up my vacation days and am taking off the week before the wedding. My fiance is taking off Thursday and Friday because his parents are coming into town Wednesday night so he can spend Thursday with them, picking up the tuxes, etc. After, we’re both taking 2 weeks off for the honeymoon. Can’t wait!
I’m just taking the day before off, but that’s because we’re taking two weeks for a honeymoon. If I’m feeling cheeky, I may ask for Thursday and Friday off, but I doubt it. The FI… well.. he will probably take off Friday too.
We’re getting married out of state, so we’re both taking the whole week before off. My parents are renting a house, and so I’ll have time with them and my other relatives who are staying there, and plenty of time for last-minute details. We haven’t figured out whether we want to do our honeymoon right after (Chicago is still nice in September/October, so it might be nicer to get away in the dead of winter).
I only took Friday off and now I kinda regret it. It worked well trying to pack and everything (didn’t want to pack for the wedding weekend + hm) too many days ahead (the wedding was near my folk’s house). But, i was a little more disorganized than I should have been and wanted to be.
had I taken Thursday off, this might have been better.
DH was unemployed at the time, so he got to do a lot of errands for me =)
A lot of people were shocked that I was only taking 1 day off, now I see why.
Take at least 2 days off for your own sanity!!
I will defintely be taking the whole week before off. I have so many little things to do before that day, and just making sure everything will be ready, I don’t want anyting to be left out. I know I will be putting together bridesmaids bags full of goodies for them. I will also be doing out of town bags for my OT guests. I’m sure many more things will be coming along that I need to do such as packing for the honeymoon. It will be my relaxation week before my BIG day!
Mrs. Toucan, Boston
Age and Occupation: 25, Full-time Research Assistant, Part-time Graduate Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Actuary
Engagement Date: February 18, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: November 07, 2007
Venue: St. Catherine of Genoa, Jin Asian Cuisine Restaurant
About Me: I’m a Gemini to the extreme. On one side, I’m a girly girl. I read countless bridal and fashion magazines, and have an obsession with keeping up with the latest Hollywood gossip. On the other side, I’m a sports fanatic. Despite being a full-time bride-to be, full-time research assistant, and part-time student, I’m also a full-time Red Sox fan from spring training to October, and a full-time Patriots fan from mini-camp to February. I devote almost as much time researching my for fantasy football team as researching for our wedding!
We both worked the day before the wedding.
I only worked half days that week. We took off a full week for the honeymoon though