40 minutes between church and reception?

As a wedding photographer I've seen most travel distances and options! I think 40 min is about the max you'd want, but it's certainly doable if you're putting on a classic bus.

The guests won't mind at all and the journey flys by as they chat to each other. Consider putting a photographer on the bus. When I have weddings with long journeys I usually drive my car and put my assistant photographer on the bus to cover the journey.

The other good thing about this is the buses go slowly so it gives you and hubby time to stop off somewhere scenic on the way to take some photos with your photographer.

I think it is a bit cheeky for people to complain about the travel distance if they are not paying for the transport themselves- you're working with the distance and providing the transport, so I shouldn't worry.

As previously mentioned, people will be chatting for most of the journey so they won't notice- it will provide a great opportunity for you and your husband to have some time alone together (and with the photographer). We're making a big deal of having a period of time between the wedding and the reception to catch our breath.

I wouldn't mind the 40 mins journey even if we had to drive there ourselves so its lovely that you're providing buses there AND back! ?

Forty minutes is fine. I've been to a wedding before where the travel time was nearer to an hour which felt a bit long but was still okay. I'm going to a wedding later this year where the travel time will probably be about forty minutes from church to venue and none of the guests have a problem with it, to my knowledge.

40 mins would be no problem for me and I would probably drive and not get on the bus just incase for whatever reason we wanted to leave before the return, bus. So might be worth finding out how many want the transport so you're not paying for something bigger than you need.

I agree with Paula as well.... You can leave before everyone else boards the bus and stop somewhere scenic on route for more pics. Then arrive just after your guests.

My sister in law and brother are doing the exact same thing and i don't mind at all. Its their wedding, so i am happy for them wherever they have it.

I am personally driving to the church, then after the ceremony driving up to the venue, as we are staying in a local hotel, so it really doesn't bother me at all.

Its your wedding and if you love the venue then just do it :-)

We went to a wedding where the reception venue was a 50-minute drive (about 25 miles) from the church. It was fine - the bride and groom had arranged plenty of time for people to get between them, and set out a clear timeline for the day so people wouldn't rush.

Ours is between 40 minutes and an hour depending on which route the sat nav chooses and how traffic is that day. We chose our church for the same reasons you have.

Our guests are driving themselves from the church. Our reception venue doesn't have accommodation, so we are staying in a nearby hotel. For everyone who is staying with us, they will drive to the hotel, drop their bags off and then we are putting on a coach from the hotel to the reception, and another one back to the hotel at the end of the night, so they don't have to worry about drinking. For the others, unfortunately they will have to sort themselves. We would love to cater to everyone but budgets and the various locations everyone would want taking back to mean that just isn't possible. We like to think we've done the best we can in helping people get back to the hotel where the majority of people are staying.

If you were right to wobble, I should have toppled over by now! Try not to worry

We did this except we hired a coach (more comfortable and there's a loo), and the guests were on a tour for an hour. Same concept though. We had the second photographer on the bus whilst we went for photos with the main photographer. Our guests thought it was awesome.