Choosing a hotel - close to venue or close to home?

Closer to the venue, without a doubt.

You can have the rehearsal near the venue since most people will already be there.

I would not want anybody staying at my house.

As a guest I would definitely want to stay closer to the venue! Also holy cow - you will be SO stressed and overwhelmed already those last days leading up to the wedding, also having to entertain guests at home would totally be my nightmare!!

You could also have room blocks at both places and leave the choice up to your guests!

Closer to the venue. Skip the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. And even if the shuttle is the same price? The further away, the more chances for snafus.

I would say closer to the venue. It may be stressful to have house guests the week of the wedding and they are expected to usually pay for their own hotel anyway so it is really up to them for travel accommodations.

Absolutely closer to the venue, if only because there's no minimum stay.

I'm staying at my parents' house the night before and he's staying in the room where we'll spend our wedding night at the B&B. Could you do the same? It also gave my mom an excuse to turn down out of town guests who wanted to stay with her. Not that they wouldn't be welcome any other time, but she has enough going on that weekend and doesn't really need to be a hostess too!

Closer to the venue

I asked this question before. Go with closer to the venue. Also a shuttle is not necessary because guests will either rent cars or travel with other guests. To save yourself some sanity get a room block do not have anyone stay with you. I was toying with the idea of housing FH's best man and girlfriend but realized that is a horrible idea and not possible so we're going to help take care of the room.

@must love cats our venue is a little bit "off the beaten path" it's in a farming area with small streets and limited street lighting. If we don't do a shuttle, what would your response be to a family member who's worried about "people driving on these dark roads"? I'm assuming many of the guests driving themselves would be older (50s/60s+), while younger guests would be using uber.

Everyone gave great reasons, but for me another reason for closer to the venue is at the end of the night after a wedding (and some beverages) I really don't want to be on a bus for 45 minutes.

@muffinbutton has a really good point. Motion sickness and booze is not a good combo

Closer to the venue. They're going to have to drive to one or the other location it sounds like. They'll be less likely to want to have that longer drive after the wedding since it'll most likely be later and they'll be tired.

We are going with closer to venue. Our venue is about 20-30 minutes away from our home. We are reserving a block of rooms at a hotel near the venue (we will also be staying at this hotel). As a guest I would not want to travel for long after celebrating for 6 hours at a wedding.

@Melissa, you can only do so much to accommodate everyone while not blowing or going over your budget. I was toying with the idea of a shuttle as well since we have family and friends from OOT but I realized it's not realistic either. I also came to the realization if I was attending an out of state wedding I would be renting a car myself. I was told before in this group that adults know how to adult. If they want to attend a wedding, then they'll figure it out.