Ceremony & Reception too far apart?

Shannakang

What is everyones thoughts on the max distance you can hold the ceremony away from the reception location? 
The ceremony locations I am looking into are about 30 minutes at max from my reception location. 
Is it rude to expect guests to drive that far in between venues?  I have been to numerous weddings where the church was not close to the reception venue....thoughts?

BellaSposa223

I believe I've been to a few weddings where the church and reception were 30 mins of one another

kristinanddan

I don't think a 30 minute drive is a problem. Ours was 40, which was about as far as we would expect anyone to go.

TerriandJoe

I asked this question too! And from what I remember (and what I'd be willing to do myself)

Thirty minutes is totally fine.

Forty-Five is the max you can basically ask people to drive and still be considered "nice"


And hour - people will complain. I would still go to both. And I wouldn't complain. But I also drive an hour quite often to visit friends. However, when we were looking we were starting in Mahopac and I asked the girls on the knot what they would be ok with driving (I also asked on yahoo answers, but that's not a local site) Anyway, an hour was the absolute max people would be willing to drive from ceremony to reception. But they wouldn't be happy about it. And alot of responses said they would be likely to skip the ceremony.

Of course, we ended up with a place that was less than 10 minutes from the church. But I searched all over.

So, 30 minutes is totally fine!

Bat937

I don't think 30 minutes is too far. 
I think 45 is the farthest I've gone.  Anything more than that and I would consider skipping the ceremony, which I really hate to do.

chrisnjay2010

ours was 35 mins

mrsredmoose

30 minutes is totally reasonable.  I think it would great for your guests if you could stay under the 45 minute range.

smatuza

I think anything under an hour is reasonable.  It just doesn't always work out that your ceremony site is close to the reception hall you pick.  Mine was 20 minutes.

Kris0816

My ceremony site is about 25-30mins from where our reception will be held. I do not think it will be a problem for anyone. I have been to quite a few where I have had to drive about 30 mins.

cidinny

30 minutes is reasonable.  If you want to select someplace further out, providing transportation is a nice touch.  I went to a wedding in Ireland where it was really important for the bride to be married in her hometown, about an hour from Belfast.  The bride arranged for a mini bus to take us all out to the ceremony and then back to the reception.  It was nice not to have to drive and it gave us some time to get to know each other.  I should mention that it was a small wedding.  Maybe 50 or 60 ppl.

carolsday

I pretty much agree with everyone else . 30 min is totally reasonable and I think considered the norm . People travel that to go out to dinner , they shouldn't have a problem doing it for a wedding . i think anything over 45 m  is to much , quests would prob consider skipping the ceremony .  Good Luck !