Wedding reception venue an hour away from church ceremony. Any thoughts?

An hour is too far in my opinion.

For me the key factor is how far are hotels from the reception? People won't be drinking before the drive from the ceremony to the reception.

I think it may be a bit too far. Under 45 minutes is best. If you do go with the reception an hour away be sure to have a second coordinator/venue coordinator there to help greet the guests and ensure cocktail hour goes well. I only caution that because of I've experienced weddings where the locations are an hour or more a part, and the night didn't start out well.

If I knew your reception was so far from the church, I would probably be fairly irked. That's a long drive, especially if I already had to drive a decent amount to get to your ceremony. I would consider declining if we weren't super close friends or family. I feel like you may have a lot of people skip the ceremony with that kind of distance.

I think anything over 30 minutes is too far.

It’s too far. More than 30 minutes it too far of a commute from ceremony to reception.

That's too far for me especially if I have to drive say 20 minutes to the church and then further on for an hour to the reception venue.

An hour is definitely too far.

If you don't have things set already, consider moving one of the locations so they are closer together. An hour apart is extremely inconvenient.

I am glad you posted this as this is the same issue I am having! I really want to get married at my family church and this is the only way my pastor would marry us but there are not close venues to my church (it is out in the middle of the country) I think I will ask around with my family as often times WW opinions are different than say the guests attending your wedding.

View Quoted Comment Guests don’t complain to the couple getting married about their decision. They complain to everyone else about it though.

I think an hour is slightly pushing it; however, I've driving more than an hour to receptions. It depends on where you live too...in my area with my crowd we often drive at least 30 min to an hour between the venues. We're just used to it. However, it's best to minimize the time if you can.

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I actually thought that same way...until I asked my best friend. She said she’d love to see me get married, and it’s my choice for venue. However s venue 3 hours away is extremely inconvenient for majority, if not all of our guests. Everyone would need a hotel, and the closest town (with nice hotels) was 30mins away. I then asked my aunt, my dad, and my uncle. One of my uncles had already complained to my mom about if we had it where we were looking to... They were all honest and said they’d attend, but it’s extremely inconvenient. As a result, we went with a local venue we found and adored. I’m not willing to inconvenience my guests for the sake of my “vision”.

I didn’t expect the honesty, but appreciated it. Guests aren’t going to be rude, and talk to you badly about your wedding, but they will say it to others.

View Quoted Comment I most definitely see what you mean and in all honesty mine would have only been an hour apart. Since its normal here to drive 30-45 minutes I thought well what's another 15. After making my comment I talked to my fiance mother and sister and got all of the same responses. No that's stupid. You can't do that. People will hate you. Lmao so that's a no for me hahaha

I agree it is too far, and I also agree that no one will say it to your face but they will complain about the drive. Not sure of your geography but in November where I live it is snowy in November.

Yes, most of your guests will think that an hour is too long of a drive between the ceremony and reception. I have been to several weddings where the drive is between 45 minutes to an hour from the ceremony to the reception, and it's super annoying. I don't want to drive or sit in a car for that long in a dress! And like a PP said, your guests most likely won't complain to you but guaranteed on that car ride and at cocktail hour people will have something to say to each other about how inconvenient it was!

I'd just go right to the reception.

If it were me, I’d honestly skip your reception or I’d only do the reception and skip the ceremony.

I’d probably not go or skip the ceremony. Also wondering where are the guests coming from before the ceremony and where do they have to go to afterwards? If they live or stay by the ceremony then that’s an hour out and back. Or vice versa. So it’s actually like two hours.

It would work, if you love the venues