We chose Friday because on Saturday there would've been a day party and we'd only be able to take pictures for about 45 minutes before. We are doing our ceremony at our venue and wanted to do the first look + all formal pictures and still enjoy our cocktail hour. Friday gives you much more freedom! Plus, it's very widely acceptable now and most people will just take off of work.
We had the same problem about not being able to meet the minimums for a Saturday night and it being too expensive. We considered Friday but decided to go with Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Most jobs have off Monday and we have a lot of people traveling. It would have been too hard to have everyone travel on Friday to get there on time without taking off of work. Since it's Sunday they can either travel earlier Sunday or on Saturday without having to take off.
