How far is too far?

[girlmom21]

What's the furthest you'd be happy travelling between a church and a reception venue?

How much travel becomes a chore rather than part of the day?

I already know the answer but I'm trying to convince myself and DP that we can book the venue I want

No more than 30 minutes.

30 mins max

If its a long distance lay on coaches Ask everyone to meet at the venue and take them to the church by coach. I’ve been to a wedding where they did that and so has DS.
Personally I much prefer it when people get married in the venue. The hassle of trying to park twice is just too much.

I’m from somewhere rather rural where it’s normal to travel 1 hr between ceremony and reception, would happily do 2 hrs, unless it’s a city situation such as London where you’re bypassing several venues to get there.

Even more keen to travel between them if theres laid on transport

Depends if you are laying on transport.

Since ceremonies in places other than churches have become so popular people have got used to having the full thing in one place. So any change of venue feels like a chore.

Also depends on the transport situation of the people you are inviting. It’s a real pain in the ass if you don’t have a car and have to rely on the goodwill of another guest offering you a lift to the reception.

Ideally no distance at all ! Two different venues or far apart venues at least means either a lot in taxi fairs or driving , possibly just me but I need a drink to get through a long day at a wedding !

But more realistically prob 20 minuite drive

If you put transport on then you can up that to 30 ish but not much more

Just my opinion of course

I thought the consensus would be 30 minutes.
We're not rural and I found a venue without considering distance. Luckily the closer venue I've found is much cheaper so I'm willing to compromise

30 mins but you'd need to be sure there's plenty parking at both venues as obviously everyone will be driving then rather than taxi/ public transport/getting dropped off

Willing to drive 20 mins.
Coaches on, happy to sit 30 at a push.

I don’t think I have ever spent more than 30 minutes travelling between venues. Usually less.

I wouldn’t be happy doing two hours. That’s over a hundred miles!

An hour would be fine. I've done longer and it's been no issue as it's usually been at a hotel where you can just drive to after the ceremony and leave the car.

I think I'll get a general consensus from guests about whether they'd like transport.

They're travelling from all over anyway and the venue and church both have plenty of parking so I think people may prefer to drive. They'll be able to stay at the venue overnight too if they wish.

The shorter the distance the better. And lay on transport between the two places. (And don’t do what my tightwad BiL did and tell everyone there is transport, but have only one mini coach shuttling between church and reception venue 6 times. I was on the last bus out - family hold back - two hours later. Not amusing in a thunder storm)

Depends on the reasoning...
Active members of a faith marrying in their 'home' place of worship or a place of significance for them id have more tolerance for travelling between venues than just wanting a pretty venue.

@SallyGoLucky

An hour would be fine. I've done longer and it's been no issue as it's usually been at a hotel where you can just drive to after the ceremony and leave the car.

The one I wanted would've been an hour but that includes motorways so I guess it'd be a bit of a crap journey

Also think about the type of day you want ! Some people want the whole drinking / disco party feel on the night do . If you do and a lot of people drive will you get that ?

Transport plus the ability to stay over at the venue is always a plus I think

Re transport, how do you organise it coming back? Those who'll leave early after the first dance, those who'll stay til the bar closes, those that'll sleep over?

@SleepingStandingUp

Re transport, how do you organise it coming back? Those who'll leave early after the first dance, those who'll stay til the bar closes, those that'll sleep over?

See, for us it'd make more sense to tell everyone to meet transport at the venue then transport people from the venue to the church and back again, because of location and people travelling from all over. Lots of them will probably stay over anyway and the ones who live more local don't drink.

@SleepingStandingUp

Re transport, how do you organise it coming back? Those who'll leave early after the first dance, those who'll stay til the bar closes, those that'll sleep over?

The 1 wedding I went to with transport the bus was from reception venue to church and back. So people left their cars at hotel, where quite a few were staying over anyway

@SleepingStandingUp

Re transport, how do you organise it coming back? Those who'll leave early after the first dance, those who'll stay til the bar closes, those that'll sleep over?

We offered transport at the end of the night. Anyone who wanted to leave earlier could sort themselves out. We provided taxi details before hand.

Ah that would have been an idea @ecceromani although they'd then have to do that journey twice and most people generally lived closer to the church. Anyway, I've been married a decade and still find of him so nktt an issue anymore 😂