How far is too far for guests to drive to a venue?

A couple years ago a friend of mine chose to have her wedding reception an hour and a half away. In the town her parents moved to. If she hadn't been such a close friend, I wouldn't have gone as it was not in an interesting town and it made no sense to have most of the guests drive an hour and a half to a town of 25,000 with no entertainment except this wedding.

People have weddings thousands of miles from home. As long as you give enough notice and you understand that you will likely have more declines than normal, it shouldn’t be a problem.

I think this is a know your crowd thing. Is it normal in your friend/family circle to travel for weddings? I’ve only ever been to like 2 weddings in the actual town I’m living in out of 25+ total weddings. I always have to drive or fly and get a hotel so to me it wouldn’t be a big deal. But if local weddings are the norm for your social circle then it’s up to you on if you’re okay having more people decline.

If it's still within driving distance the distance wouldn't affect my decision to go. And if you live in RI and I'm one of your guests in NY I honestly would have assumed the wedding would have been in RI anyways and been prepared to travel to there

I don't think so! We're having our wedding in the mountains and we know that nobody will be less than an hour away. We met working at our summer camp, which is where we're having our wedding. So it's a meaningful place for us and it's a place that many of our friends and family have heard about, but haven't visited themselves.


I think it's totally up to you in terms of how much you love the venue. Two hours isn't long at all, especially if there are places to stay nearby.

I think that’s ok but don’t be surprised if people need to leave early or they arrive late because that might be likely

If the wedding and venue are the same location, it should be a problem.

Shouldn’t — is what I meant

Our wedding is going to be an hour to and hour and a half depending on traffic from where most of the guest live, it’s a beautiful venue and was a great deal. If they love you or really care about you the 2 hour drive shouldn’t be that big of a deal. 👍🏼

I was also in a wedding this past summer, we moved to a different city so for her wedding we had to drive 4 hours into town and then 1 hour to the beach venue, I didn’t mind at all it was a great time

I️f I️ were A guest I️ would Definitely drive. Just have to think about guests having alcohol at the reception and driving back home. If your having any that is.

It’s fine, they don’t have to accept your invitation if they don’t want to. Not all invited will go. But I expect most will. 2 hours is a lot faster and cheaper than than taking a flight and getting a rental car if you decided to host it somewhere even further.

Two hours isn’t very far especially if you’re going to provide transportation from nearby hotels. I believe Mass is a good middle point between NY and RI. My FH and I live in Connecticut, but a majority of his friends and family are in NY. We found a hotel in CT somewhat close to the NY border about a 2 hour drive for most guests. Ceremony, reception and guest rooms will all be at the hotel.

Two hours isn’t very far! My venue is an hour & a half from where we live and 2 1/2 hours from my hometown (only 10 minutes from FH’s hometown). We got quite a few no’s from people in my hometown, but we do still have a great crowd traveling to it! Our final count is at 220.

As long as you give your guests notice and provide a hotel block, 2 hours is fine.

We are asking people to fly into our wedding location and then drive an hour. The wedding weekend is literally in a village with golf carts so there is no further transportation needed after they arrive. I for sure don't think asking people to drive 2 hours to the location and then provide transportation between would be too much at all. Just as long as the 2 hour drive isn't between ceremony and reception...

No that’s not too far!! Guests travel all sorts of distances for weddings if it’s important to them to be there. We have one coming up to go to that’s 4 hours for us!!
Our wedding is 3 hours for my friends & family from Illinois!! We are getting married in Iowa where I live now.
Just give plenty of notice

This is YOUR wedding, and the guest should understand that you found a place you love and want to be married at. If they want to be part of that day, they will make the trip. On the other hand, you will also need to understand that some of the guest may not be able to make the trip due to scheduling conflicts (being away from home overnight), or budget restraints (unable to afford the trip expenses). Like several others have said, know your audience and not be offended if some choose not to, or are unable to attend.

I think it’s so rare these days that couples getting married are both from the same place with all their family in the same place — *someone* often has to travel. A 2 hour drive is easy!
We live in NY but I am from MA. We had our wedding in MA. It was a 4 hour trip for all our local friends, and H’s family. But convenient for my family . None of our crowd was fussed. None of the New Yorkers didn’t come for distance-specific reasons!

My FH's family is driving 5 plus hours to the wedding and my family is flying 3 hours. I think this is fine, but we are in a different situation.