Dates for your 2019 diary

Happy New Year! And huge congratulations if you’ve got engaged over the festive period.

Telling people your big news and flashing your new piece of jewellery is such an exciting time and it won’t be long until you’ll be asked (again and again) when is your big day.

So here’s a little help with picking a date for your special day (and take a look at this useful guide to setting the date too).

Before you rush to send out your save the date cards, here are some things to bear in mind when setting your wedding date:

Date

Superstition often forces couples to avoid the 13th of the month (especially if it falls on a Friday and there’s two in 2019), your birthday, the day of a full moon, April Fool’s Day and it used to be forbidden to get married in Lent and Advent by the church. Some people think that 7 is supposed to be a lucky number whilst 4 is deemed unlucky in Japanese and Chinese traditions, so dates with these numbers may be sought after or avoided by couples. Instead perhaps you want to pick a meaningful date to you such as the anniversary of the
date you first met, a memorable date that you’ll remember like 12/12/12 or a nod to your heritage such as your grandparents’ wedding anniversary date.

Year

Which year are you thinking? This may seem like a basic question but if you want to do something soon then suppliers and venues may already be booked up. So, think about how long you have /want to plan the wedding. The more notice you give then the more likely you are able to have your first choice of date.

Time of year / season

This could affect what the weather is likely to be like which could influence your themes, colours, venue, attire, transportation, food choice etc. Also, different seasons can have an impact on the price and availability of food and flowers. Venues may have different prices depending on the time of the year and will your key guests or wedding party be available in school holidays?

Month

Old superstitions state your fate as a couple depending on the month you choose to wed. Some say it was unlucky for a couple to get married in May. Whilst June and other summer months are very popular and even December is gaining in popularity, presumably so that people can use holiday time around the big day. It is worth considering different months as popular ones are in demand so prices may increase and availability will decrease.

Day of the week

Ironically in another old poem, it states that getting married on a Saturday is unlucky which nowadays is the most common day for people to tie the knot. However, it is also one of the most expensive days too. More people are now considering other weekdays as options and Sundays too (although this used to be deemed as a mark of disrespect).

Day or night

A wedding after dark used to be considered unlucky but you could split your guests up to have some come for the whole day and others just join you for the evening part of the day so you don’t have to pay for all of them to have a sit-down meal.

Rest of the world

Make sure you think about what else is going on in the world such as national, local and annual events including:

• Public holidays
• Sporting events
• Other people’s occasions (like birthdays, wedding anniversaries and religious festivals)

Here’s a list of some events (in England) in 2019 that could influence your choice of dates:

• New Year’s Day 1 January
• Epiphany 6 January
• Orthodox Christmas Day 7 January
• Orthodox New Year 14 January
• Burns Night 25 January
• Chinese New Year 5 February – year of the pig
• Valentine’s Day 14 February
• St David’s Day 1 March
• Mardi Gras 5 March
• Shrove Tuesday 5 March
• Mother’s Day 31 March
• St Patrick’s Day 17 March
• First Day of Spring 20 March
• Clocks go forward 31 March
• April Fool’s Day 1 April
• Grand National 6 April
• Boat Race 7 April
• Good Friday 19 April
• Passover 19 – 27 April
• Easter Monday 22 April
• Earth Day 22 April
• St George’s Day 23 April
• London marathon 28 April
• Cinco de Mayo 5 May
• Ramadan begins 5 May – 4 June
• May Day Bank Holiday 6 May
• Eurovision Song Contest 14-18 May
• FA Cup Final 18 May
• Chelsea Flower Show 21 – 29 May
• Monaco Grand Prix 23 – 26 May
• Spring Bank Holiday 27 May
• Cricket World Cup (England) 30 May – 9 June
• Women’s World Cup (France) 7 June – 7 July
• Trooping the Colour 8 June
• Father’s Day 16 June
• First Day of Summer 21 June
• Royal Ascot 22-23 June
• Glastonbury 26-30 June
• Wimbledon 1 – 14 July
• Henley Regatta 3 – 7 July
• Independence Day 4 July
• British Grand Prix 12-14 July
• Eid 11-15 August
• Summer Bank Holiday 26 August
• Friday 13th September 2019
• Rugby World Cup (Japan) 20 September – November
• First Day of Autumn 23 September
• Diwali 27 October
• Clocks go back 27 October
• Halloween 31 October
• Guy Fawkes 5 November
• Remembrance Day 11 November
• Thanksgiving 28 November
• St Andrew’s Day 30 November
• Friday 13th December 2019
• Hanukkah 22-30 December
• First Day of Winter 22 December
• Christmas Day 25 December
• Boxing Day 26 December
• New Year’s Eve 31 December

Plus other upcoming ‘unlucky’ dates of :

• Saturday 29th February 2020
• Friday 13th March 2020
• Friday 13th November 2020

And not forgetting the Olympic Games in 2020 in Tokyo 24 July – 9 August.

Enjoy celebrating in 2019 and I wish you a very Happy New Year.