Acceptable distance between ceremony & reception venues?

I went to a wedding recently where the distance was about a 15 minute drive - which was fine, but what I would say is that if it is a big of a trek let people know they have to make their own way there. We happened to drive and it said nothing on the invite about that we would have to get their ourselves, and some people were left having to scrounge lifts - I think if u find someone u like a 15-20 min drive it ok - just let people know so they can make arrangements!

Hi,

We had the same problem when looking for our venue, we agreed that a max of 30 mins was enough we wanted to allow time to travel from church to venue etc, however we have fell lucky and have now got a venue within 10/15 mins drive, although it doesnt have as many bedrooms we were hoping for, but has premier inns and travel lodges close by.

I did one a few weeks ago where the Reception was 45 minutes drive from the Church. It all went very well but the bride did say the planning was tricky having to keep doing the journey at the planning stage to see various suppliers etc in both places so that is something else to bear in mind, it is not just on the day

The distance between mine is around 20 minutes x

The distance between our church and reception venue is about half an hour's drive. Think most people will drive to the church and then drive to the reception venue and no-one's commented on it so far! A couple of my friends don't drive (and the church is in a little village so not much public transport) but I'll arrange them to get lifts with other friends.

We had the same problem as you - really wanted to get married in the village where we grew up but not much in the way of reception venues nearby unless we wanted the village hall!

Our venues are half hour apart - which I think might be a nightmare for organising but will be fine on the day for guests. I'm not sure if guests will go to the hotel first, or just come straight to the church though

Are you willing to share what sort of area your 'black hole' is in? We might be able to suggest something for you.

Also, what sort of numbers would be helpful

Ah ok thats pretty encouraging from all your responses, 30 minutes might just get us somewhere without complaints hehe!

AJ - The black hole is more or less smack bang between Horsham and Brighton (W. Sussex). I'm a country girl at heart, so not too interested in a Brighton or seafront do, and would like to see some greenery from the venue :-) All the venues seem to be Chichester/ Arundel or Lewes / far E. Sussex way (which would be 45-60 mins drive away). Numbers wise, we're looking at 120 for the breakfast with a further 120 for the evening.

Although this is a whole other issue - For a lot of venues we've seen the cut off size for meals is about 100. We're not expecting the full 120 people to come, and it would probably be around 100 people really (or less) so do you look at venues for a realistic number of people, or the best case and everyone attending?

Its sooooo confuuuuuusing!

Thanks again everyone?

Ours is half an hour away, I think that was our maxium. I went to a wedding in September and the reception was 30-40 minute drive, I didn't have any problem with it, was very happy that there was food waiting on arrival though as I was starving! ?

I'm sure most people will use sat nav and be happy to do it, a good idea at the wedding we went to the bride had printed out directions to the venue for the ushers to give out at the church if anyone needed some. She'd put them in the invitations but people had forgotten to bring them, I thought it was a really nice touch.

Looking at the map I took Hassocks/Burgess Hill as the nearest 'big places' to your location and although I have no personal experience of any of these venues these links might help.

https://www.weddingvenues.com/venue5450.html

https://www.weddingvenues.com/venue4916.html

https://www.weddingvenues.com/venue4068.html

Any assistance?

How about the Ashdown Park hotel? It is stunning.

Thanks AJ ? Will have a look into the golf club, as hadn't come across that one so thank you! I used to go to the gym at the first one, and I'm not a fan of gyms (although thats not to say we've completely written it off, but at the moment its on the last resort list hehe!) and the last one was used by my old work for functions :-)

My venue is about a 10 min drive away. What I would suggest is maybe putting on a mini bus service otherwise people will have to drive to the venue which could be a pain because they'll either have to go without drinking alcohol or leave the car at the venue.

I wouldn't worry too much about laying on transport for your guests - it was v expensive when I looked into it and my MOH told me to stop worrying, that people would sort themselves (great advice I think!)

I have researched a secure car park and prices and a local hotel and taxi firm though to put on the invites.

Our venues are in different counties! I was really fussy with my venue choices. Found the castle and had to have it then searching for my reception I had a few boxes to tick so allowed myself a maximum travelling time of 1 hour. My venues are 40-45 mins apart but it shouldn't be much of an issue as I only have 34 ceremony guests. I have order of the day booklets with clear instructions for everyone plus the address for people with sat navs.

I would say a max of 30 minutes apart. I went to a wedding where the distance was supposed to be "just over an hour" - only there was an accident on the motorway which led to it being over 2hrs before we got there! By this point the "wedding mood" had almost totally evaporated, we missed all the canapes the bride had shelled out for and the starters were burnt because they had to serve them late.

Printed out instructions for the ushers to hand out is a good idea, also email your guests and find out if any need tranportation and then arrange car pools.

I can't really help you with timings as we are having everything in the same place. As long as you tell everyone well in advance then it should be okay, they can then get together and share lifts if needs be. Do you have a wedding website they can post on to to say they can offer lifts to other guests? One of my friends had a bus organised to pick people up from the reception venue in the morning and transport them to and from the church.