Location, Location

levioosa

I would rather travel an hour to a wedding than attend a weekday wedding (like a Friday wedding where I have to leave work early).  If the location was two hours away in the middle of nowhere I might be more annoyed.  In my area, most travel time still ends up being an hour if the venue is near any sort of large metropolitan area, even if it is close distance wise.   If VIPs are okay with it, you should be good. 

CMGragain

Does I - 70 still back up at Washington, PA?  Traffic used to crawl through there!

lovesclimbing

I wouldn't mind.  I also live in Alaska, where getting anywhere for anything takes a long time, usually even a plane flight, by virtue of just how big the state is.  I'm picturing everywhere a wedding could be had around me an hour away, and honestly, I would not mind the drive at all.

mjk5415

CMGragain said:

Does I - 70 still back up at Washington, PA?  Traffic used to crawl through there!

I do not believe it does but the only time I have to travel to Washington is for anything concerning my wedding dress. My bridal salon is out there and I usually go after work, so I'm driving during "rush hour". I have not had any issues yet. Our wedding would definitely be on a weekend and I don't foresee traffic being that bad, I would never ask people to leave work early or take the day off! It would be to chaotic for me.

cowgirl8238

As a central PA resident an hour doesn't bother me one bit.  I'm near Harrisburg and we looked at venues from west of Carlisle to York to Lancaster...its just how it goes.  In the nd we went with a venue about a half hour from us, but OOT for most people. 

melbenso

The venue we chose (and loved) was a little less than an hour drive from our house (and about the same time of drive for any of our guests).  The majority of our guests were OOT, though - I'd say about 85%, so they would be traveling no matter what.  Our venue also had overnight accommodations available for our guests, but to the best of my knowledge, none of our local guests made use of them.  The option was there for anyone who wanted it though.

I don't see a problem with choosing a venue an hour from your home.  But I's suggest making sure there are overnight accomodations somewhere close by in case people decide they don't want to drive back late at night, even if all invited guests are local.  That way they can "let loose" as your FI says, and take a cab back to the hotel if you aren't providing transportation to/from the hotel.

We didn't have anyone decline because they would have to drive an hour to our wedding, but I suppose you theoretically should accept that this might happen if you choose this location.  (I wouldn't decline a wedding with an hour's drive and would consider it local.)  As long as you are OK with that, go for it.