Wedding Etiquette Forum

Distance between reception and ceremony spots??

My fiance and I live about an hour and a half from all our family and friends, and we plan on having our wedding where were are now.  Originally my reception venue was 10 minutes from my ceremony venue.  Sadly, my ceremony venue fell thru and I'm now forced to look else where.  I'm catholic and really want to have the ceremony in a catholic church.  The next closest catholic church to our reception venue is 25 minutes away.  My question is....is 25 minutes too far to drive between venues?  The hotels will be minutes within the reception venue so thats not an issue.  Any advice would be so great.  I don't want to make it difficult and then people just not come at all.  Thanks!!

Best Answers

Answers

  • I think 25 minute is doable as long as you don't have a gap between the ceremony and the reception (then it's way longer than 25 minutes) and that the 25 minutes is realistic for the wedding day.   

    Ex: DH and I looked into a venue that was about a 30 minute drive from our church.   But that 30 minute drive didn't take into account the shore traffic that would most likely add an additional 10 - 15 minutes to the drive for our guests.  
  • As a general rule, I think anything over 30 minutes is way too far..25 is pushing it but still doable. The time has to include construction/traffic/etc. Like, "25 minutes on the best possible day going 5 over" doesn't count, KWIM?
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  • I'd say 25 is also pushing it, given that most of your guests are out of town. It just makes for a lot of driving for your guests. 
  • I don’t think 25 minutes is too long of a drive.
  • I think it’s totally fine. 
  • 25 minutes is fine.
  • My fiance and I live about an hour and a half from all our family and friends, and we plan on having our wedding where were are now.  Originally my reception venue was 10 minutes from my ceremony venue.  Sadly, my ceremony venue fell thru and I'm now forced to look else where.  I'm catholic and really want to have the ceremony in a catholic church.  The next closest catholic church to our reception venue is 25 minutes away.  My question is....is 25 minutes too far to drive between venues?  The hotels will be minutes within the reception venue so thats not an issue.  Any advice would be so great.  I don't want to make it difficult and then people just not come at all.  Thanks!!
    I have to wonder how a church "fell through" for you.  Typically, if marrying in a Catholic church, it is imperative that you do no further planning until you have received a confirmation with your church.  Did you book your reception venue first?  Did your initial ceremony location "fall through" because it creates too long of a gap between the ceremony and the reception times?

    The length of time it takes to drive between ceremony and reception is not as big an issue for me as the type of commute.  Open and easy suburban roads are no issue.  Meandering through an urban area with no clue makes things more difficult.  In general, I would have no problem with a 25 minute drive, especially IF I was that much closer to the hotel.  However, if I lived an hour to 90 minutes away, chances are I would drive home after the reception.

    Please make sure that this change in ceremony location does not create a gap for your guests.
  • I am confused.  You booked your wedding at a Catholic church and they cancelled?  This does not make sense to me at all.
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  • I think 30mins or less is reasonable for any venue.

    I suppose it depends on where you live and what your guests are used to driving. If you are in a large city, I would expect the two venues to be close together as there are more options around for a reception and the travel is more difficult (traffic, parking). Where as a more suburban or rural area, one would expect to have to drive more, but have no issues finding parking and the like.



  • What kind of driving is it? Will most of your guests have a car? Is it fairly easy to navigate? If you can provide a shuttle or an Uber/Lyft code from the hotel to the church & back, could people then walk to the reception venue?

    25 minutes isn't bad, but I wouldn't be super keen on it because I am the worst at navigation and grew up in an area where nothing was more than 15 minutes away. For most people, if it wasn't an awful drive, it should be okay.
  • 25 minutes isn't great. But it's not the end of the world.

    Though, curious in which direction the 25 minutes is. In regards to where the majority of your guests are traveling from, if they were to drive straight to the church from their homes, would the new location add an additional 25 minutes to that drive? Would it make it closer? Or somewhere in the middle?

    An hour and a half from everyone is kind unfortunate. It's far enough away that I wouldn't want to make the round trip in a day but also close enough that I'd hate to waste money on a hotel.
    I'm just curious how the new location would add to or take away from that pain.


    But regardless, 25 minutes isn't so bad as long as it's truly 25 minutes.

    It's important for a Catholic to get married in a Catholic church, and assuming there's no way to change the reception venue plan at this stage, as a guest, I'd rather drive an extra 25 minutes than see the couple turn their backs on an important Sacrament.

  • The church you get married in should be a parish that is YOUR church, not a "pretty wedding venue", so it's not "your cousin's church" if you're getting married in the Catholic church.  

    Formalities aside, 25 minutes is NBD IMO.  The longest I've ever had was 45 simply because there were no halls large enough closer to handle the size of the wedding.  
  • Mine will be about a 25 minute drive. We are upfront about it, and it won't be the end of the world to us if guests traveling in the opposite direction chose not to come. That being said, we are having a longer ceremony and will provide music in the park our ceremony is at so guests can linger and chat rather than hopping right back in their cars.
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