Wedding in a town that GPS doesn't recognize - what to do?

volleyball12h

I have a strange question. I haven’t seen anything similar
on the boards so here goes…

Our wedding will be in my very, very small hometown, I’ll
call it Nowhereville, the problem is, it’s not a really a town, city, village,
etc. so none of the addresses for our wedding festivities actually say Nowhereville.
It used to be a village and people have just continued to call this area Nowhereville. There is a sign saying you are entering Nowhereville and there is a Nowhereville post
office. There are only a handful of houses, the post office, and a bar that
have the address of Nowhereville.

The Church’s address is in Smithville, and the reception’s
address is Jonestown, but both are actually in Nowhereville (according to all
local people), just opposite ends of the one mile long Nowhereville.

The problem comes with all of my family and friends knowing
the church and reception hall are in Nowhereville and will be confused if I put
the other towns’ names in the address on the invitations. But all of FI’s
family and friends are from out of state (about 2 hours away), and won’t be
able to find the locations with GPS if I put Nowhereville in the addresses (as
it doesn’t technically exist according to GPS satellites).

My current thought is to put on the invitation itself that
the ceremony will be at ‘Church Name, Nowhereville, OH’ (with no street
address). On a separate insert have, ‘Reception to immediately follow at
Reception Hall Name (with no street address). And then for those that are not
familiar with the location, including an address and direction card that has ‘Church,
street address, Smithville,OH’ along with directions to get there, and the same
for the reception hall, with a short note saying that GPS does not recognize Nowhereville,
so these addresses have to be used.

FI’s parents put Nowhereville in their GPS to come to a meeting with
the reception hall and it took them 2 hours in a different direction… it was a
mess.

Am I over thinking this, will this confuse the crap out of
people from out of state? Any suggestions?

MairePoppy

I would use the addresses that the GPS will recognize.

Jen4948

Can you Google it?

AddieCake

I vote use an address that GPS will recognize and include a note with any clarifying info. We were going to have to do that with our original venue. GPS would indicate "you are arriving at your destination" a mile before you actually were. We were very confused ourselves when we first went to see the place.

julieanne912

What about going old school style and including a map with your invitation, with a note that GPS may not be reliable for finding the location?  Also if you can, have plenty of directional signage in the town to direct people where to go.

huskypuppy14

Would you rather confuse the local people or the out of town people? I would put the actual address (Smithville or Jonestown) because that is the address. Just because local people call it someplace else doesn't make it true. I also think the local people will be more likely to find it.

I also agree to include a map. 

jacques27

I would do what's best for the out of town people and use proper addresses.  Presumably, the in-town people will recognize the places by name, right?  I mean, they only have a one mile stretch of road - it shouldn't be that hard.  They aren't going to go "Nowhereville Church" in Smithville?  I'm so confused!  Maybe it's a destination wedding!"  And presumably you have family there still who can spread by word of mouth if there in confusion.  You can provide a line-drawing map of the main drag in town and location of the church for the in-town folk if you really want to. 

Meanwhile, even though I don't rely on GPS much, your out of town guests won't have anything or anyone else to rely on unless you want them calling you up all day long asking for directions.  These are the people you need to care about most - not the people who have their one mile stretch of town memorized.

[Deleted User]

Put the "Nowhereville" information on the invite & make an insert that you can include with invites to people who live out of town with "Address information for GPS" this way they will have the GPS recognized information but when they hit "Nowhereville" and see the signs for "Nowhereville", they won't be confused when the GPS is saying "Smithville"

theartistformerlyknownas

Another vote for the real, GPS-able address and a printed map insert.

You could also list the locations like "Nowhereville Churchity Church, 1 Someplaceville Road, Somewhere" and "Reception to follow at the Fancy Schmancy Reception Hall - Nowhereville at 2 Someplaceville Road, Somewhereelseville."

volleyball12h

Thanks everyone!

I agree it makes much more sense to use the actual addresses, I think I was having a crazy moment. We have information on the website about the addresses and Nowhereville not being recognized, but I think a map, additional insert with addresses and directions for those from out of town, and spreading by word of mouth will be the best way to go. People from my side are all either from Nowhereville, Smithville, or Jonestown so they should be able to figure it out.

CMGragain

Church name
Nowhereville
Street Address
Postal town name (GPS), Ohio

Never abbreviate state names or include zip codes on the invitation.

volleyball12h

CMGragain said:

Church name
Nowhereville
Street Address
Postal town name (GPS), Ohio

Never abbreviate state names or include zip codes on the invitation.

I think that would be more confusing than anything... I didn't plan to put the state abbreviation, I was just saving some typing time in a lengthy post.