Travel Time from Ceremony to Reception?

arf3420 · March 2011

I need some advice on what is considered an acceptable travel time for guests to get from the ceremony to the reception. I want to have the ceremony at St Mary Church on Grandview Ave in Pittsburgh (then have pictures taken on the overlook since that's where we had our first kiss and where we got engaged). But I'd like to have the reception at Laube Hall in Freeport. Google maps shows that it is a 35 minute drive to get from the church to the reception hall. Do you think that's too far?? My mom insists that the locations need to be much closer together, but I wasn't sure if she was just being old fashioned?

sarilynnep · March 2011

I have traveled 20 minutes between a location and reception, but this does seem like an awful long time to me. Is it a hard drive? The reception that we went to was a easy drive even though it was 20 minutes away, and the reception itself was closer to where people lived. Additionally, since it was a catholic wedding that could only happen at 2 or so on Saturday, we had a 2 hour lag until the reception which was a evening reception.

It might be best just to think about your guests and where they are traveling from. It's it is really far away from where they live then it might be too far away to drive back and forth.

cgyvhu · March 2011

I think it's kinda long, but I could be in the minority.

If you have a lot of out of town guests, asking them to drive 35 minutes in an unfamiliar city is a lot, imo. And if 35 minutes is the estimated travel time, but you know this route can have traffic/construction that could make it 45 min or longer, that's also a lot.

If everyone is familiar with the city and the route is traffic/construction free, I guess it isn't terrible, but I certainly would prefer something in the 15-20 minute range as a guest.

dbpsu18 · March 2011

As md mentioned, since the route to get from Mt. Washinton to Freeport is route 28, I personally would shy away from the distance due to traffic/construction.

I have had to do some decent travelling between wedding ceremony and reception for several of the weddings I have been to and it has always made me pretty grumpy as a guest. This is why logistics is something that is VERY important for me as I've been planning.

That being said, how much time will you possibly have between the ceremony and reception? if its a decent amount of time, then it might not be as big of a deal. just my two cents...

pantherRN · March 2011

Just wanted to say that I agree with md. IMO, it's too long.

MRads · March 2011

Ditto pp, especially because 28 can be a beast! Can we help you brainstorm other ceremony/reception venues?

cgyvhu · March 2011

I agree w/ MRads...

I know St. Mary is really pretty, and the overlook is gorgeous, but could you do e-pics on mt washington and choose a church closer to freeport?

There are affordable venues in that area (Lemont, gateway clipper, rivers club), but if you have to use your own caterer as you mentioned in a diff post, then I'd recommend e-pics on Mt Washington and a different church.

sarilynnep · March 2011

I agree with Md... I know that the overlook has significance for you, but it looks like the distance would be really hard on your guests. Having e-pics on Mt. Washington would still be meaningful and very beautiful. If you can sacrifice your reception area, then there are some very nice reception venues in the area around Mt. Washington.

carcrashheart · March 2011

IMO, it's too far since guests would have to travel rt. 28.

Maybe consider The LeMont, The Sheraton, The Rivers Club, Jay Verno Studios, The Circuit Center, The Grand Hall. Those are all right around Mt. Washington.

ginny814 · March 2011

Yikes, I've been to Laube Hall many times and to Mt. Washington many times; I know Google maps might say 40 mins but in reality it's definitely going to be closer to one hour. It's 33 miles. Yes, rt. 28 towards Freeport shouldn't be too bad with respect to traffic, but IN the city is where you'll see problems... which could be tricky for any one who is not familiar with the area.

However, if you're going to have a LOT of time between the ceremony and reception, then it may not be a huge deal. My ceremony is in New Ken, but my reception is at Soldiers & Sailors in Oakland.. it's 19 miles and since we're taking the Highland Park Bridge and not going closer into town (where the rt. 28 construction is), I'm hoping traffic isn't a problem since construction pretty much starts at Etna/40th st. bridge. Of course there is some stop-and-go once you get to Shadyside/Oakland but I don't see the commute being anything over 35 mins.. we can even take Allegheny River Blvd. However, there's no rush to the reception because I'm Catholic and the ceremony time is around 3pm (ceremony only, no mass); reception probably won't start untl 5:30.

It pretty much comes down to this: are you more concerned about the location of the ceremony or the location of the reception?

carcrashheart · March 2011

Oh, I just noticed your previous thread about the caterer that you want to use. If you are on a tight budget, I assume that you have decided to splurge on the ceremony, since St Mary's charges 1k to have your wedding there. At least that was the fee for 2010. Are you willing to reconsider the ceremony church to allow more wiggle room for the reception budget? Just something to think about. If Mt. Washington holds a special place in your heart, then that is something to definitely consider. DH & I lived on Mt Washington for years and it was important for us to get married as close to Mt Washington as we could (we opted to do our ceremony & reception at The LeMont, but considered the venues I mentioned above).

MRads · March 2011

So since you're getting married in June, would you consider an outdoor reception? You could have the reception at the West End Overlook. Or, if Mt Washington is really important to you, I might contact Mt Washington Community Development Co...they might have an idea of event space or people who would be willing to rent their space out for a wedding...its probably an out there idea, but you never know till you ask.

Other options for places for outside caterers: I'm not sure what the status of the Regional Enterprise Tower is, because I know there are some financial issues, but you could check with them. Last year around this time it was about $3200, but you could bring in any outside caterer.

My sister's reception was at a place in Lawrenceville that allowed outside caterers, but we had to do/rent everything, including we had to clean the place before and after, we had to rent a sink for the caterers, we had to rent hangers, but it was about $800, and since they had never had an event there before, they don't have preferred caterers. If you pm me, I can get you that info. I'm not sure that was the cheaper route to go though.

In other news, I'm sorry you had a bad experience with the Edgewood Club. My reception is going to be there this fall, and they've been lovely to work with. They do state on their website the caterers they allow, so that might be why they didn't respond to you...not that that's an excuse.

carcrashheart · March 2011

The Regional Enterprise Building is having financial difficulties, and are waivering on whether to go up for sale or not (for a new management company, basically), but that shouldn't really impact future events. In fact, they need the money. And if they had money, then maybe they could pay us for the services we provide to them! Win/Win!

MRads · March 2011

Here are some more places close to Mt. Washington where you can bring outside catering (at least according to their website).

http://www.contemporarycraft.org/The_Store/Rent_our_Space.html - its in the Strip

New Hazlett Theater: http://www.newhazletttheater.org/info/rental-information - a friend of a friend got married here and he said that you could bring outside caterers (and other websites indicate you can), but you have to rent a lot of add ons, so you have to consider whether its cheaper or not

MrsDydek · March 2011

You should, if anything consider changing your reception location, not the place that hold so much sentimental value to you!

I know ppl will disagree with me, but there are MANY times when you should think of your guests first, and other times when you need to remember that IT IS YOUR WEDDING! Most of the money you spend will be on the guests, and if it is at all possible to find a closer reception space than your should. But if you can't you SHOULD NOT EVEN CONSIDER CHANGING YOUR CEREMONY SITE. Between the favors, the food, and everything else you are spending to make sure they have a good time at your wedding, they really shouldn't get too upset that they have to spend an hour in transit to make sure that YOU HAVE A GOOD TIME AT YOUR WEDDING. Just make sure to include in the program a story of its significance to you.

You could also try to maybe get a bus to transport your guests back and forth. I know some one said something about you being on a tight budget, but if it's something your really worried about you may be able to cut your budget in other places to make room for this.

Overall sometimes it IS worth it to inconvenience guests a little. This is your wedding, and something THAT important to you shouldn't have to be sacrificed because your afraid that guests might get a bit grumpy. Of course it is very important that your guests have a good time but sometimes you have to say screw it, it's MY wedding and this is what I want. Hey brides have done FAR worse things to their guests than give them an hour of transit.

cgyvhu · March 2011

dude, using caps lock totally makes you right.

arf3420 · March 2011

Thanks for all of the advice!

St Mary's does have a $1k ceremony fee, but luckily I have a family member who works there, so I'm pretty sure we're going to get the fee drastically reduced, if not no fee at all, so that doesn't really factor into my budget. I don't really want to change the ceremony site, so I am still looking into other reception options for right now. I never drive out that direction, so I didn't even think about Rt. 28, but you're right. Anytime I've ever driven on that road it's been a nightmare.

I did just come across the Parador Inn, which seems like it could work for us. They're willing to use outside caterers as long as they meet with them first. The only issue is that their max is 100 people, so we'll need to cut about 25 people off our guest list, but I think we should be able to manage that. You do have to pay $4 per car for guest parking, which is a drawback, but it's super close to Mt. Wash!

I'm also looking into the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall. It's in Carnegie, so it'd be a short easy drive for guests. They have a reception hall that you can rent, but there aren't any pictures on their site so I have no idea what it looks like. I'm waiting for a call back from them for more details, but it's on the Knottie list as a place that uses outside caterers, so I'm hoping that's true! Has anyone ever been to a wedding there? Any idea if it's a nice venue or not?

I think Parador will work out perfectly as long as I can get my guest list down. Otherwise, the Music Hall might be the way to go. At least both are close to Mt. Wash so I don't have to give up the ceremony or pictures! Yay! Btw - many of you mentioned e-pics... I have no idea what that is?? On another side note, all of the venues I've been looking at allow you to provide your own alcohol. I have no idea how to budget for that... I've read online the average cost ends up only being about $3 per person, but I don't know if that's accurate or not. Has anyone had a wedding where they brought in alcohol? Thanks again guys!! :-)

arf3420 · March 2011

Also forgot to mention... Thanks so much MRads for the site suggestion!! That's the first I've heard of the Society for Contemporary Craft, but I think that might be a great venue! It's hard to tell for sure because there aren't really any pictures on their site, but that might be exactly what I was looking for. When I first started looking at locations, I was trying to find a museum for the reception until I realized how incredibly expensive they all were! This place looks like it will offer the museum atmosphere without the high price tag... perfect!!!! I just emailed them to set up a tour for this weekend :-)

carcrashheart · March 2011

Confirm with St Marys-DH is/was a member of the church, but that didn't change the fee (I had him look in to it on the off chance someone could convince me to get married in a church...). However, he may have only half azzed looking in to it, since he didn't really want to get married in a church either....totally possible!

e-pics = engagement pictures

arf3420 · March 2011

You're right, they do still have a fee if you're a parishioner of their church, but it says on the website that it's only $250, so that's much better than $1000! They might not be able to eliminate the fee entirely, but if we can get it down to $250 I'll be happy :-)

carcrashheart · March 2011

I agree!!!!!

kristenrmu22 · March 2011

Sorry but I do agree with many other posts. My thoughts aren't really about the time but about the drive itself. Our drive is "per mapquest" 28 minutes but it's ALL highway. We consider highway very easy to deal with. 28 is a nightmare and most people try to avoid it because it causes so much frustration. I would at least consider some other options.

Travel Time from Ceremony to Reception?

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