Appropraite travel time to ceremony??

AFSKMS

We are currently shopping around for wedding venues, but we ran into a problem. Most of our guests live in the same general area of PA, with a few that are a little farther away. We are looking at venues in other counties, and some up to 2.5 hours away from our area. Is it appropriate to ask guests to travel that far to come to our wedding/reception??

AFSKMS

Thanks for your quick repsonses guys!

I should have included this in my original post - but we live in a very rural area of Central PA. We have to drive 45 mins. to the nearest wal-mart. A lot of the ideal venues are an hour or more away. Our most ideal situation, though, would be to find a nice farm/mill/park right in our area to get married in. So far, we haven't had much luck with that though.

thesuninherhead

I think that's totally fine, but then, my ceremony and reception venues were about 2 hours drive from most of our guests. As long as there's nearby accommodation, I don't think it's a huge deal. It's close enough to drive home if they want, but far enough to justify the night away if they would like. Most people have guests/family/friends who live in many and varied locations- the wedding will always be a fair distance away from some of the guests, you know? I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

thesuninherhead

*ETA that we just got an invite for a wedding of one of Nick's close friends. It's being held a 7 hour drive from us and likely a large proportion of their other friends (the wedding is in her parent's home town), and if we can rearrange our schedule (currently have flights booked that would prevent us attending) we would definitely make the drive without a second thought.

squirrly

As long as there are accommodations available (at a reasonable price) for those who want them, I don't think it's a problem.  Now the travel time between the hotel, ceremony and reception should be no more than 30 minutes for any of those connections.  But travel time from home to the wedding area isn't really a big deal. 

srkropf

Aside from my mother and my FI's mom and stepdad, everyone lives at least an hour away. Our ceremony is about an hour from where we live and the reception is local. I'm not worried about it because people will either come or not-- either way I'm marrying the man I love!

tenofcups4me

Since most of your guests live in one general area, then yeah, I do think it's weird to have the wedding that far away unless the place you're having it is a destination in its own right. But if it's just a pretty country club (or whatever) that happens to be 2.5 hours away, I think that's way too far. Where do people in your area usually get married?

bonnyandtim

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_appropraite-travel-time-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:ed172d5f-4bf1-4df4-9145-5cc0a8e0a0b7Post:a3b1afeb-edc3-424c-82f8-b73adba98394">Re: Appropraite travel time to ceremony??</a>:
[QUOTE]I think that's totally fine, but then, my ceremony and reception venues were about 2 hours drive from most of our guests. As long as there's nearby accommodation, I don't think it's a huge deal. It's close enough to drive home if they want, but far enough to justify the night away if they would like. Most people have guests/family/friends who live in many and varied locations- the wedding will always be a fair distance away from some of the guests, you know? I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
Posted by thesuninherhead[/QUOTE]

Same for me.

My wedding is a little non-traditional that it is in my FIs hometown. My guests are going to travel about 2 hours.

Yes, some people have declined. But I wanted to get married in his church, since I kind of go there now instead of my home church.

& it's close enough that some people who want to save $ can stay at home, or I do also have a hotel block.

AFSKMS

In our area, the only places to really get married are churches or there are state parks. We aren't looking for a church wedding, and there are many restrictions on receptions at state parks. We know a few people with nice farms for an outdoor wedding, and there are a few nice venues within an hour drive. We are trying to find the perfect outdoor location with option for indoor/cover for reception. We would love it to be historic/rustic. I guess if our perfect location ends up being semi far away, then we may have sacrifice losing some guests.

Thanks guys for all the replies! Love hearing your opinions!