Our reception venue is 21 miles away so about 45 minutes away from the Church. I have been stressing lately that it is too far for people to go for the reception, esp if they are only night do guests? How far do you think is reasonable to expect people to travel? The venue is a converted barn in the countryside with 12 bedrooms so only the bridal party can stay over and the nearest hotel is about a 10 / 15 min taxi ride away back to the city centre. Do you think I should lay on transport there and back???

i would never provide transport and i personally think that is an ok travel time xx

From what people tell me people shouldn't really complain.. Its what you want etc.. My cousins reception venue last yr was about 40mins away and no-one complained.. We all jumped in each others cars etc.. xx

we were thinking about having our wedding reception about a 20 min drive away from town and they only had a few rooms too but then we had his mum saying people wont want to come that far and blah blah blah but im goin to see somewhere else on sat and if that falls through then tough!! if people want to come then they will do those that complain about it dont really or at least thats my thinking now!! xxx

although to be honest most of my family (all except my parents) all have to travel at least 2 hours to get to scarborough anyway so i wouldnt worry too much xx like ems said people expect to have to travel for a wedding xx

i'v got ry saying that we should provide transport for them all!! (which i know will end up being mostly his family) so i wouldnt worry too much hun xx

We put in our invites that if anyone wanted to come but were finding it hard to get transport then we would organise something for them. As it turns out everyone is alright but if they hadn't been we would have asked friends to pick them up and drop them off or sort out a mini bus etc depending on the numbers. Most of the time people are happy to sort out their own ways to get there and back.

Our ceremony and reception is all in one place but a wedding I went to a few months ago had a 40 min journey between church and reception. we didn't mind, just bungled a few other guests in the car and made our way. They'd arranged drinks and canapes for when guests got there. As it was sunny the venue had arranged our own seating area outside so we could all just chillout and relax and have a natter with family we'd not seen for a while. Due to the time delay though the bride and groom decided not to have a receiving line and just mingled arond tables between food courses. Was a lovely day so don't worry about time/distance x

Hey hun, I cant really add to what everyone else has said but can tell you what I'm doing! It's entirely up to you, we've got a coach taking h2b's family and our friends from where we stay, to my hometown where we're getting married. I've made sure there's going to be enough space to then take everybody attending the church to the reception which is 2 miles up the road. I just want our family and friends to relax as much as possible on the day so wanted to do that for them x

You sound just like me.. Worrying more on everyone else lol.. xx

I've been worrying about whether or not we should provide transport to the reception as well, but then I think if it was any other kind of party then no one would ever think of putting a bus on so what's so different about a wedding? Like a few other people have said, there will always be people driving so other guests will just grab a lift with them.

If they wont travel that tiny bit then they dont deserve to be invited!
All of my guests will be travelling from USA or Norway to be at my wedding, and no one has complained! On top of that they'll probably have to travel a bit to and from the reception as well, and again no one has complained.
It's your day, have it where ever you want ;) xx

Can't believe this post as it was today's wedding dilemma in my world!! Our reception is a 55 min drive from the church (basically an hour) and our venue has only 14 rooms, but there is other accomadation within 5 mins. I got a quote for a 22 seater mini bus, one way which will cost £170 or a 33 seater which will cost £200. My h2b and mum think it is silly to spend this money on something non-essential, h2b would much rather put the money in the honeymoon fund (typical!) but I'm not sure. If you provide a bus, you have to provide one back and do you do that at like 1am after the reception or the next day, expecting most people to stay :( it's all so confusing

21 miles is nothing really - and guests will know how far it is before they arrive so it's up to them to make arrangements/car share etc. I wouldn't put transport on for them. When they get the invite they can either accept and know how far it is, or decline because of the distance - but I'm guessing most will be there however far it is.

We're getting married 130 miles from home - and everyone who was invited has accepted (and that's making their own travel and accommodation arrangements).

friend of mine will get married in sri lanka and all her guests have to travel and arrange there own accommodation (incl. me and h2b) but ok i dont wanna miss it anyway as we both would make it our yearly holidays as well :)

the only thing i wud be bothered about is the 15 minute taxi journey to the nearest hotel! i dont mind the 45 minute drive after church byt 15 mins in a taxi will be expensive!

it a bit complicated for us because most of my family live a 2-3 hour drive away from us and when i wanted to go half way so each family had to travel an hour ry (after his mum had a chat) said that it was too far to expect people to travel and that most of his family probably wouldnt come if we did that!! as for transport the only transport that i am worrying about is getting my bms from the ceremony to the reception!! and that will probs be through getting lifts with people!! might have to have some of them get lifts there too as my moh has a 3 year old (or will be next year) so the car seat problem!! xx

We got married in Surrey, had people from Scotland, Blackpool, Swansea, Dorset, South Africa, America and Australia come to ours. If people want to come a couple of hours is nothing.

We're getting married in France so people will be flying over - we are laying on a coach at the other end to collect them all and take them back to the airport as it's 40 mins away from the venue x