Deciding Venue Location

Maybe if it seemed like a friendship that was on the upswing. It could depend a bit on the price of gas and possibly an interesting venue. I think an overnight stay would be necessary too -- which college students can't always afford. It sounds like you are interested in keeping this friendship on a bit stronger level since you are talking about venue decisions.

Not enough information to work with. Not knowing the groom is irrelevant because that is common at many weddings. You need to better define what your friendship is like. Someone who casually meets for coffee only a few times a year and never interacts otherwise is an acquaintance, not a friend. But not all friends are local, and some use social media to connect with each other daily/weekly and an outsider would never consider them to be close at all based on observation.


The distance traveled as a guest is an individual choice. Based on past posts, many users have said they would only travel more than an hour (which is a regular rush hour in some areas) from their home to the wedding for a super close best friend or super close relative. Depending on the relationship or lack of, some won’t even travel in the same city for someone they are not BFFs with. 3-4+ hours for an acquaintance and not a best friend is a hard pass.
But I think you are asking two different questions. Are you trying to locate how far from your home you share with fiancé for the wedding? Many couples pick where they currently live. Or are you trying to decide who are your must have guests to invite? Because those are two separate things. Contrary to what alot of people will say, your loved ones will travel to your wedding. You don’t need to take the wedding to them.

You will not be able to pick a location that pleases or is super convenient for every single person on your guest list. As long as you have ensured that your most important and closest people will be there, that’s pretty much the only thing you can do.


There can also be other factors besides distance that a person might decline for - maybe the date conflicts with something big in their life, they get sick closer to the wedding date, their financial situation suddenly changes, etc. That’s just part of planning a big event.
I’d suggest sitting down with your SO and hashing out the vision the two of you have for your wedding, list out your most important, can’t-imagine-your-day-without-them guests, and go from there.
Congrats and good luck!