The best way forward would be to go with a Friday and just see if anyone is willing to take an afternoon off work.

Is there a lot of travel involved? I would go to a local/2 hourish drive wedding on a Friday without thinking about it. But, if I had to take Thursday to travel in addition to the wedding on Friday, I would have to consider closeness/coolness.

Would you go to a wedding on a Friday?

I went to one last week.

Even for locals, I think the later in the day you can push it the better. This one was at four pm, and seemed to have a pretty good turnout. But the priest even commented on how many people made it and it does seem like if you can swing 6 or 7 pm it will definitely be easier on some folks.

There's a bit of travel, as London locations are too expensive for us. But it's England-style travel, i.e. not far: about 2 hours for the London-based guests (which is most people). A little more for my friends from Leeds, where I go to university, but they'd have had to take another day off anyway, and there's only a few of them.

We're thinking about an afternoon ceremony, late enough in the day that people wouldn't need to take an entire day off work.

Right. If you make it 4 or 5PM, even with a 2 hour train ride most people can take a half day.

Of course, that puts you at the mercy of British Rail, so there's another thought.

Hmm. We might be able to make it a bit later on in the evening. It's going to be a short ceremony and straight into a party, if we have our way. ('Cause, what do you do at a civil partnership ceremony? There's not much in the way of precedent. One hymn for me, one stepping on a glass for her, we pick each other out of the line-up, and we're done. No white dresses, walking up aisles or organ voluntaries, otherwise I shall be sick.)

Of course, that puts you at the mercy of British Rail, so there's another thought.

Nah, this venue is out in the countryside - no station anywhere nearby. We're arranging car-shares for those that don't have transport, which isn't many.

I performed a Friday evening wedding about an hour out of DC a couple of years ago. The coolness of the location (Bayfront property) and the promise of dinner inspired a packed house.

The only bad bit was that it was not far from the highway and, outside on the water. Guests complained that they couldn't hear us as the wind came from behind the crowd and carried the words out to sea. Given the nervousness of the groom, whose arm I pinched mercilessly (at his request) to keep him from weeping, it turned out to be a good thing.

Seska, I'm sorry to hear that that is your experience. Everyone in England has always gone out of their way to be helpful to me.

Everyone here is completely useless, including the administrative office. Luckily there is a nice gentleman from South Africa who is letting me use his portable chair.

You're waiting in line now, sj? And they are continuing to be unhelpful? Bastards.

I would go to a Friday evening wedding. Seska, your ceremony description reminds me of a friends' wedding at which I missed the entire ceremony while I looked for parking. Two minutes late and it was all over. Very fun reception.

Everyone in England has always gone out of their way to be helpful to me.

I've had some good experiences, but they are, sadly, overwhelmingly outweighed by the number of bad experiences. The amount of discrimination and abuse I get on a daily basis in this country never stops surprising me. My personal experience of access and attitudes in the US was generally better than I've experienced here. There, people didn't snap at me when I asked for something to be reached down for me in a store, or refuse to let me on public transit or into cabs, or say "And what the hell do you want me to do about it?" when I pointed out that putting a ramp over a small step benefits a lot of people... But maybe this is a case of knowing your own country's system too well, and being pleasantly surprised by a change of pace somewhere else.

Excited Japanese Fangirl Gives Best Harry Potter Interviews Ever. Dan and Rupert are very good sports, I must say.