Is a wedding venue with a two-hour drive too far for guests?
Venues located two hours away from guests or accommodations lead to much higher RSVP decline rates and cause people to leave receptions early. Families facing this kind of long travel time will either need to book local hotels or skip major portions of the event entirely.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 29.1× more often in r/weddingplanning than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
Is a wedding venue with a two-hour drive too far for guests?
- 1Getting a hotel room nearbyDid this help you?
- 2Leaving the reception earlyDid this help you?
- 3Declining the invitationDid this help you?
- 4Waiting to see what is best in terms of costs regarding shipping versus traveling with itemsDid this help you?
- 5Bringing extra items along when traveling if needed rather than shipping them aheadDid this help you?
- 6Having the wedding closer to home or near familyDid this help you?
- 7Accepting lower guest attendance and RSVPs declining due to travelDid this help you?
- 8Touring alternative venues closer to homeDid this help you?
- 9Sending save the dates immediately without a venue bookedDid this help you?
- 10Including website links or QR codes for future updatesDid this help you?
- 11Waiting to send formal RSVPs until invitations go outDid this help you?
- 12Considering postponing the wedding to a later yearDid this help you?
- 13Focusing on a single city or region with day trips rather than trying to see the whole stateDid this help you?
- 14Renting a car instead of relying on regional trains or busesDid this help you?
- 15Flying into one major hub city and booking a quick connecting domestic flight to the event cityDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“hi all do you think it’s okay to have a wedding venue with 2 hours travel time? most of my guests will be families anyways.”source ↗
“Needing to travel two hours back from the location to accommodations after the wedding would be batshit insane.”source ↗
“I think you might have a higher decline rate than if it was in town, or people leaving earlier, especially if most of your guests are families.”source ↗
“Like it takes 2 hours to get to the venue? Most people will either get a hotel or leave the reception early.”source ↗
“We normally travel once a year so if we need to bring something like gifts we just bring them with us. But with our wedding it’s going to be more things then we are use to.”source ↗
“I’m having some guilt at having a wedding not near close in proximity to us.”source ↗
“I’m in my head about making people drive, and am essentially wondering - is this a normal drive for people to make?”source ↗
“Driving 7 hours each way for a wedding is a big ask. Expecting all of your guests to commit multiple days and travel for your wedding is likely to reduce your attendance.”source ↗
“8 months for an international wedding is definitely short notice imo. Depends heavily on your friends/family but many people would need far more warning to budget for a trip that large.”source ↗
“If you don’t have a venue booked yet, I wouldn’t send out anything. There is a high likelihood venues will be fully booked or with only limited dates left.”source ↗
“This!! This is such a short time frame to plan an international wedding, and I wouldn’t count on a venue/date until the deposit is paid.”source ↗
“I just don’t want to be rude and have a registry if it’s not common for destination weddings.”source ↗
“My other question is, is it easier to buy things ahead of time and ship it to a family member who lives in Mexico or to just bring it with us when we decide to travel?”source ↗
“My fiance and i are planning on getting married this upcoming June (roughly 8 months from now). My family is in the US and the wedding will be in europe so i want to give them as much advanced notice as possible.”source ↗
“is it okay to send a save the date without having a venue nailed down?”source ↗
“I am desperate to attend San Diego Comic Con (biggest comic con in the world) that happens in July 2027 with all my American friends. Would a one week trip be doable to attend the con for 2 days and spend the rest exploring California ?”source ↗
“I am flying all the way from Dubai so I know that a lot of my time will be spent traveling but I just want to know if someone has done something similar and if they have anything to share for short trips ?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 7Can you actually plan a wedding in just a few months?
- 5How do you plan a first-time long distance move?
- 12How to plan a long road trip when you have no clue
- 161How to plan a road trip itinerary without packing in too much driving
- 6Is a week-long trip to Asia worth the jet lag?
- 3How to schedule a legal marriage before a destination wedding