Travel?

For “locals” to drive, I think up to an hour is fine.

Our wedding location is about 2.5 hours from us and all of our local guests, we have just a few out of state. We acknowledge that it’s inconvenient for some of our guests, but won’t budge on location because it’s a place that’s important to us. We’re also having a pretty small wedding, we are inviting a max of about 60 people including our wedding party.

Just echoing what others have said. I would travel as far as necessary for certain people in my life, others not so much. I do think if you are making it a couple hours away then it should be on a Saturday so people have enough time to travel without having to worry about work.

I would travel any distance for four good friends wedding, but for anything over an hour I would personally stay in a hotel the night of the wedding.

As long as you block a hotel nearby, you're fine! We've traveled 1,000+ for 3 separate weddings. All of our guests are traveling at least 1 hour to our wedding, a lot are out of state.

Last year we drove 3.5 hours each way to go to a college friends wedding.

View Quoted Comment No ceremony and reception at the same locationz

Thanks everyone! We’re looking at a venue that’s an hour away from most of our guests. The ceremony and reception would be at the same venue and it would be a Saturday wedding. I appreciate the input!

Definitely a know your crowd thing! Much of my family is spread out around the east coast so we’re used to having to travel for weddings and special occasions. I think overall though if you are expecting guests to travel just make sure you consider factors that would make the trip easier for them. For example, make sure your venue is near airports/hotels/easy to get to from the highway (or print out directions with your invites). Provide room block options that are reasonably priced. Think about setting up a welcome dinner or make sure that there are things for them to do/places to go when the wedding and wedding events aren’t taking place.

I picked a vent that I know that most of my guests will attend my wedding. Most of my guest are within the surrounding areas. I have guests who will travel a couple of hours to our wedding. I believe we have about four guests who are traveling within a 6 hour period to the wedding. My guests who are traveling along distance can drive to our wedding and they have a choice to stay with relatives, hotels or friends. If it is a reasonable distance your guests will come or attempt to come.

We are looking to have our wedding 4 hours from where we & our families live. Why? Because we are in love with the town and how beautiful it is!!! It is a German river town about 4 hours from Houston and it just makes us happy. It is our day and what we like. I'm sure it will keep some people from going, but the people who matter will go no matter what! We are trying to keep our guest count low so we think it will help us in that regard. I say you do what you both want! The right people will come, even if it is in another state!

I think it depends. If you have people split up pretty well, I don't think it's weird to ask people to travel however far you want! Go somewhere in the south where it's cheaper, might as well if everyones already traveling! But if everyones local like you're saying, it's good to have the wedding be in the area in my opinion. I'm in an unfortunately expensive wedding area, I know venues are cheaper 2 hours away, but I'd rather not have all my guests have to travel. For those who decide to stay, it turns it into a full weekend thing that costs more, rather than a nice night in town.
I think it's a know your crowd and yourself situation. Know your crowd: If most attendees are younger and childless, a weekend thing 2 hours away could sound awesome & way better than a wedding in town! But if they're more settled down and have kids, it might be something they pass on. Know yourself: If you're more into DIY, it's going to be more effort to get all this stuff somewhere far and set it all up. Forgetting something at home turns into a big deal rather than sending someone to grab it. Guests will probably arrive both earlier than you want and later than you want, this could mess with the timeline of the day a little bit. If you're a more relaxed bride and you're not doing too much DIY, these things don't matter, but if you know you're a little anxious and doing a lot of set up, close by might be the way to go.
This is all opinion! If you found the perfect venue 3 hours away, go for it, the most important people will not be deterred by this.
Try to be near airports and hotels, it's not going to kill anybody if not for those, but if they do have to travel, DEFINITELY do it on a Saturday!

I drove 4 hours for a co-workers wedding. My former boss (now friend) drove over twelve hours to attend mine. It all depends, I guess! My nephew (by marriage) didn't drive across town to attend our wedding so what do I know?

I have been to two weddings. One was my aunt's and I drove 5 minutes to my grandmother's back yard. The other was a 9 hour drive but my fiance was the best man and we stayed the weekend in that town (same state).

I mean I have people traveling from Taiwan........... I'm assuming that that, however, is not what you mean.

Maybe we should be really asking, "How close is too close to be considered a destination wedding?" I feel like if it were far away that that makes sense, suddenly people would think it was all fancy and want to attend even more than a "normal" venue.

I traveled over 1,000 miles for a wedding before.

View Quoted Comment It’s not a destination wedding.

If it's driving distance, I wouldn't mind. If it's traveling by plane, I would have to think about it and how close I am with that person + figure out if I can afford to go. Just because plane tickets and hotels can add up. I did travel to Texas for a wedding this year, that has been the furthest so far!

My wedding, most of FH's family will be flying in. His parents live about 2 hours away and my family and our friends live about 1-2 hours away. So basically everyone except my coworkers (since they live in the same city as the wedding) will be traveling somewhat for our wedding. Just some more than others. Haha.

Our wedding is 3 hours from our place, so I'm considering it a "destination-ish" wedding. Guests are getting accommodations for the weekend, as there's lots to do and nobody wants to drive that far after a night of partying!

My best friend got married Easter weekend 2018 and we drove 2 hours for it and my other best friend got married in the Grand Cayman in 2017 and I was there. I think if you decide to do something further away thats up to you and always within reason just don't get upset if people can't make it. We are doing a destination wedding to Gatlinburg TN and all our guests are traveling. We have a small bit of family in TN and even for them its like a 3 hour drive. If its important to the guests to be there they will show up regardless of the distance. Just make sure you plan far enough in advance for them to make accommodations