Distance between venues.

ostrichnomore_2

What do you think is a reasonable distance between the different parts of the wedding, assuming it isn't all being done on one site.

So between reg. office and reception, for example. Do you need to arrange transport for everyone? How far is too far?

And...is it within reason to have 3 venues: reg office, restaurant for 'wedding breakfast' with ceremony guests, and then a hall for evening reception?

Wine_of_the_World

I am wondering the exact same thing! But between two venues where the wedding ceremony will be held, and a venue for after.

I am thinking 15mins (drive) between venues - although I did go to a wedding where it was more like 20mins and that seemed ok.

I think if you were doing three it would depend on whether their is accommodation at the final venue, or very nearby (as in walking distance), as the only time transport between venues has been an issue has been where the last venue is out in the sticks with no hotels etc nearby.

Putting on transport I feel could become more hasstle that its worth - and leaves questions about where people would leave cars and how would they then leave the final venue or get back the following day to collect them.

I would be really interested to hear other thoughts!

kyana

i limited my search at 30 min on a poor run. hopefully it'll be nearer 20.

ostrichnomore_2

Something that just struck me is that people couldn't have wine (or more than 1 glass) at the restaurant and then drive elsewhere, which puts the kybosh on that idea. Maybe.

my_definition

ostrichnomore wrote: »

Something that just struck me is that people couldn't have wine (or more than 1 glass) at the restaurant and then drive elsewhere, which puts the kybosh on that idea. Maybe.

Anyone thats driving to the 2nd venue wouldnt be able to drink anyway.

personally i wouldnt go for 3 venues but if you have transport to each one from the last its doable.

Im paying for a bus from location 1 to 2 but really resenting it so i hate to think how much it would be to transport people twice. Also it would take up a lot of time moving people.

however, its your wedding

minerva_windsong

When my sister got married we drove 40 minutes to the reception venue from the church, which I thought was probably about as far as I'd travel between venues, and even then only for a venue I really liked. However as there wasn't much parking at the hotel they put on a coach which then took everyone back to their hotels at the end of the night, meaning people could have a drink and didn't have to drive that evening. Apparently it went down quite well as it gave people an opportunity to have a chat and catch up which wouldn't have happened if they'd driven.

scmp

I would be a bit miffed at the wedding breckfast knowing i couldn't have a glass of wine with the gorgeous meal and assuming you have been charged for a drink or two for each person you might be gutted too! It wouldn't ruin my day.
We have a 20 minute or so drive from the hall to the reception from a tourist seaside 'resort', onto an expressway, past a super market, past a castle, through a tunnel under a river and then they get to the reception. Hopefully that will be interesting enough but it will be 12 noon and we have given them 1.5 hours to make their own way, freshen up etc as we won't be having afternoon tea untill 1.30pm. I am so worried about that part of the day!!!

Dekazer

We thought long and hard about this, and ended up having 3 venues. It actually worked very well.

We had about 60 guests to the ceremony at a town hall (their upper limit). We then hired an old Routemaster bus to transport everyone to one of our favourite restaurants. The town hall was very convenient for public transport, but the restaurant was not. However, the guests coming on public transport were taken care of. Very few people chose to drive, because they knew they would be transported.

The Routemaster was greta. When DH suggested it I thought it'd be really cheesy, but everyone loved it. My elderly Londoner relatives loved it (nostalgic) and everyone from everywhere else loved it. Even the younger Londoners managed to crack a smile. Maybe the champagne and sloe gin onboard helped.

Also, the route we took was carefully planned to take in many areas that meant something to our families. Past the school my grandmother used to teach at. Through areas our grandparents grew up in. So lots of people enjoyed the journey.

From the restaurant, the bus took the daytime group to the evening venue, where many of the evening guests were already tucking into the free bar

NOTE: Never walk into a room on your own on your wedding day, in case people applaud you without your new spouse

The evening venue was also very close to public transport, allowing everyone to get home easily. A higher proportion of the 200 extra guests drove, so we had made sure there'd be plenty of car parking space.

All in all it worked fine. With hindsight, it's more complicated to organise, so I'd only recommend it if you have three venues that i) have very different benefits or ii) mean something to you. Otherwise, for convenience, I'd limit it to 2. And if you must transport people for a long way or more than once, make the transport part of the fun!

AmberStripes

I'm from Northumberland and my other half is from Manchester.

When we married we had a 10am ceremony in a beautiful Northumbrian chapel followed by an early afternoon reception 90 miles away in the South Lakes.

Everyone had a great time and the fact that the festivities meant a stay over on neutral neutral turf made for many a good story the mroning after!

jinky9

Just take time to think about what it might mean for time with some of your suppliers. I`m a wedding photographer and just lately had a couple of B&Gs be in one or two venues for preps, one for the wedding and then over 45 mins to an hour away for the reception. Booked by the hour you need to be aware that you could be paying an hour of the photographer`s time just for driving as well as maybe excess mileage fees so you need to budget / plan for that.

AndyBSG

I went to my cousins wedding in the Summer and the Church and reception venue were over 30 minutes apart!

They got married at my cousins parent's local church up near the Essex/Suffolk border then had the actual evening reception near his wife's family on the London/Essex border.