City Ceremony, Suburb Reception???

sk_schubert

Our church is in the city, but our reception venue is in Oak Brook.  Are there any other knotties out there that have planned, or are planning, a city ceremony & suburb reception?  If so, can you offer some advice on how you arranged for hotel accomodations and transportation?

Thank you!

duckie1905

If you can swing it I would try to provide transportation to/from the ceremony from a suburban hotel near your reception.  I've attended a few that did this and when transportation was provided it was much less of a headache for everyone.  Once, traffic was so bad into the city that we just turned around, skipped the ceremony, and went home until the reception was due to start.  Practically, you may not be able to provide transportation depending on your budget/amount of guests but I would seriously consider either providing transport or moving one of venues in order to make things most convenient for guests.

This is just my opinion but I always find it to be difficult to go all the way into the city for a ceremony just to come all the way back out for the reception.  I am inclined to skip the ceremony unless some sort of transportation is provided because that amount of driving is just too much.

And, I live in-town.  For OOT guests that may mean having to find rides, rent a car and potentially drive in an unfamiliar city (in construction/traffic), or figure out the public transportation.

PenelopeSnuz

Personally,  I don't understand the logic behind doing this at ALL.  It is a huge pain in the butt to get in and out of the city on the weekends.  If it is too expensive to have your reception in the city, find a nice church in the western burbs.  Your guests will thank you.

oldasempire

I'm with the girls...unless you don't mind or are planning for guests to skip the ceremony all together. If your guests live in the burbs, this is a huge hassle to drive into the city just to go right back (we all know how horrendous Chicago traffic is).

MyWedding13

I am doing this. Our church is downtown and the reception is also in Oak Brook. I know some people might not come, but I figured those who really matter will be there. We are having the hotel near the reception venue and are not providing transportation. I don't think it is a good idea to provide transportation because people would have to either leave their cars in the city (stupid) or you have to provide transportation both ways and your guests won't be functioning on their own time schedule.

blegare

one of my friends did this. i lived in the city at the time and went to the ceremony in the city and the reception in the burbs. there was a good break between the two to allow for travel (2 or 3 hours, I think). It really wasn't a big deal - after all they only get married once.  Their reception did have a hotel onsite, so that made it easier. 

cmstrauch

I attended a similar thing out of town in NY where the wedding was in Brooklyn and the reception was in Hastings. It was a p.i.t.a. too! We were late to the wedding because most of the guests were staying in a resort in NJ which was about two hours with traffic from Brooklyn and then another hour traveling from the wedding to the reception. Yes we complained to each other about it but in the end they did such a nice job with the reception all was forgiven : )

What's hard is that if you have guests out of town they will most likely stay near or at the reception and have to drive back and forth. Just don't do them the favor of trying to get them the best deal on the hotel for the night; get the closest one the the reception. That was the other thing that happened that day. Rather than getting us a block of hotel rooms at the hotel across the street; we were at one 15 minutes away. Not very well planned out but it's family and you love them anyway. Sorry just venting

samscsi

I  think something like this can work, but there are a lot of things to consider.  I went to a wedding in July with a similar set up (wedding on the north side, reception in Hinsdale) and it was the weekend with all the rain when a bunch of streets flooded.  Almost all the out of town guests missed the ceremony because the drive from the hotel, which was in Hinsdale, took over two hours with the roads closed, and several of the in-twon guests were really late to the reception (I still don't know how the bride and groom made it from one place to the other on time!).  I would suggest that you not only give your out of town guest maps between the ceremony and reception site, but also provide a couple of alternate routes, just in case.  Not sure the best way to do this, maybe have the hotel give them out when out of town guests check in. 

kbarker719

I'm doing this.  My ceremony is in the city at the church where I grew up, and also where my parents were married, so it is a very special place for me.  There were no reception options close by because we ran into that time of year when everything was being booked for holiday parties, or the room wasn't big enough.  The reception will be in Woodridge, which is about 45 minutes away, but super easy to get to.  I blocked off hotel rooms right near the reception site to make it easy.  I'm not providing transportation from the hotel to the ceremony because the ceremony is at 2 and check in for the hotel isn't until 3, but there will be transportation from the hotel to the reception so that guests can relax and not have to worry about driving after the party, especially since it will be winter and weather might be a factor. 

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