my opinion on the subject after discussing this with players and GM's that have played a lot longer then me, is that the Saturday morning combat was always pretty much a wake up call. this is how I kind of piece things together.
Friday night: initial combat and plot hooks relevant to the weekend event
Saturday morning: initial good npc's (usually) start popping up with info and tasks/quests
Saturday day: quests and tasks dealing with plots relevant to the weekend event (this is where the most "work" gets done I would say)
Saturday night: The culminating battle/task/quest as a result of our actions/inactions throughout the event
Saturday late night: winding down and finishing touches such as dealing with complete/incomplete npc tasks/quests usually linked to the culminating event that took place earlier
Sunday: checkout
I personally don't like the Saturday morning wake up call, as its usually just me deciding what is more important, my characters life, or sleep. (the answer is not always so obvious) I am a fan however of the good npc's coming by to chat, even if its just random locals and villagers come to see what we are up to, good way to wake up, good rp, etc.
I am also a big advocate of wandering monsters, however. in my opinion wandering monsters should not necessarily wander into the camp/inn, but should wander between locations such as the roads between the inn and the camp, etc. As this adds to the fear of wandering down the trail and reinforces the relative safety of pc locations/camps (as I personally feel it should be)
I don't really care if things do attack our camps, but I feel it should be the exception and not the rule.
this has all been my opinion so treat it as such ^_^
<3 -Ark
PS: congrats on your first forum post