How far is too far? (from Ceremony to Reception site)

If you're serving alcohol, are there hotels near the reception site? If so, I'd say go for it and block your hotels near the reception site.
While not super ideal, I'd rather travel 40 minutes in the daylight in a strange place than at dark.

View Quoted Comment Very true! Yes, if we went with the farther site, we would definitely book the hotel block near there!

My venue is 35 minutes from my ceremony. We are providing limo bus transportation from the venue to the ceremony and back again. 22 have opted to use this out of 72 rsvp's. No one has complained about the distance. I think you'll be just fine.

I personally would feel inconvenienced if the bride & groom chose a reception venue 40 minutes from the ceremony. 30 is pushing it, IMO.

40 minutes is far from ceremony to reception, and especially for out-of-town guests who don’t know where they are. We’ve all personally experienced driving in an unfamiliar city where even 30 minutes feels far when you don’t know the area. Personally if a commute between ceremony and reception is over 15 minutes, I’d be annoyed as a guest.

Also, will the hotel accommodations be closer to the reception venue? Or ceremony? That’s something else to consider... all the back and forth driving. So, don’t be surprised if some guests choose to only show for the reception to avoid all the driving. It may not happen in your case, but I’ve experienced it.

40 minutes is pretty far. You may risk people skipping ceremony. It may also cause guests to arrive late to reception if they get lost or there is unexpected traffic. If you have a lot of out of town guests anyone flying may not have a vehicle with them to make the trip so you would need to provide transportation and if they drove far for the ceremony they will definitely be upset driving far again to the reception. It’s your day and ultimately your choice but I don’t think it’s the most considerate of your guests. Also depending on time your reception is over the hotel may not want everyone checking in at say 10 pm. My block told
me all guests checking in late had to tell them ahead of time or risk loosing their rooms. If hotel is far from ceremony guests can’t check in until after reception and may risk loosing their rooms. It would also mean they have to keep their overnight bags with them. And any out of town guests would have to travel from hotel to ceremony to reception. it just seems like a lot of logistics for your guests. Could you maybe choose a different ceremony site?

40 mins a little bit to far, you don’t want your guest to leave after the ceremony because of the drive. And if your going to have alcohol that might play another factor in them leaving just Incase if someone has one to many drinks. My Ceremony and Reception are less than 10 mins away from each other just because I didn’t want to start loosing my guest. Good luck hun!

40 minutes is definitely far. We once went to a wedding where the ceremony and reception space were 50 mintues apart and I was so annoyed. I travled from out of state, did not know the area, and there was a 3 hour gap between the ceremony and reception. We literally did not know where to go so we watched the bridal party take their photos after the wedding, along with a ton of other guests who were stumped on what to do.

Along with the long drive, a lot of people ended up getting lost and/or were late. Having good directions is KEY. They had to start the reception later than they wanted, and the bridal party stood outside for almost an hour waiting on introductions because one of the groomsmen were lost. Not saying that this would happen at your wedding, but with travel that far apart, I'd expect some people to only go to the ceremony or reception. I think its common in these cases for people to pick one over the other.

That's a bit far in my opinion. I'd find a way to do transportation for everyone. And have the hotel be near the reception site.
You might even want to opt for an earlier wedding because traveling far in the evening might be asking too much.

My venue is 30 to 40 minutes from the church as well. All I can say is it is worth it. And if that's what's in you budget don't worry about it.

The farthest I've traveled is 25 minutes. Will you provide transportation?

I think it's fine. Ive been to weddings where I had to drive that or more. But since you're saying there's out of towners it does sound inconvenient unless you can provide transportation somehow

I’d say 30-35 min is the maximum I’d want to put between locations (ideally it’d be under 25) but it’s your wedding at the end of the day *shrugs*

Hey Genevieve! Have you found a reception venue yet?