Asking guests to walk between ceremony and reception

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m always happy to walk, even much farther than 10 minutes. The only exception is if I’m wearing heels, or dressed up and will get hot. If your guests are dressed casually, then it’s fine. If they are dressed up, then no.

Walking is one of my favorite exercises and I could walk for hours, but not in heels and dress up clothes. I also don't really want to bring my sneakers to a wedding.

+1

Exactly this.

[Anonymous]

For those saying uber for the elderly, I think you are forgetting how tough it is to get an uber for such a short ride.

[Anonymous]

Part of it is knowing your guests. How formal is the wedding, how big is the guest list? If it’s a church and then lunch, and you have 25 guests most of which are between 15-60 who know the area, I’d think you can make it work with telling everyone to plan in advance. A large party at night with little kids, more non-locals and older people would be a no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Part of it is knowing your guests. How formal is the wedding, how big is the guest list? If it’s a church and then lunch, and you have 25 guests most of which are between 15-60 who know the area, I’d think you can make it work with telling everyone to plan in advance. A large party at night with little kids, more non-locals and older people would be a no.

OP says it is in the city, so it is hardly a backyard barbecue, tee shirt, shorts and flip flop wearing situation. OP, if you don't accommodate your guests properly, plan something that you can accommodate.

[Anonymous]

I think I'm an outlier but I've been to a lot of weddings with a church ceremony and then a reception at a different venue, and I don't recall any of them busing us from the church to the reception venue. If it's in the burbs everyone drives, if it's in the city people get cabs or walk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those saying uber for the elderly, I think you are forgetting how tough it is to get an uber for such a short ride.

+1

I can see OP sending a family member (on the down low) to drive the one or two elderly, then the hell with everyone else. Yeah, no.

[Anonymous]

Yes, you should provide transportation. What if it rains? I would not be happy if I had to walk 10 minutes in heat/humidity in my dress shoes/clothes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m always happy to walk, even much farther than 10 minutes. The only exception is if I’m wearing heels, or dressed up and will get hot. If your guests are dressed casually, then it’s fine. If they are dressed up, then no.

Walking is one of my favorite exercises and I could walk for hours, but not in heels and dress up clothes. I also don't really want to bring my sneakers to a wedding.

+1

Exactly this.

LOL think I'll parade around the neighborhood in my heels and gown and full makeup and hair this afternoon. I'm sure it would be REALLY comfortable!

OP, are you not a girly girl? Because this is something my not girly girl friend would have come up with in our 20's - "oh no - it will be FINE!" LOL.

[Anonymous]

We hired the old town trolley to go in a loop between the hotel (where people were staying and where the reception was) and the church - my parents insisted, I thought it was stupid but it wound up being fun.

[Anonymous]

We attended a wedding where the ceremony was at a DC monument and reception was in Old Town— so, I recognize that is not the same as OP’s situation. What I liked about what they did, though, was they booked hotel blocks in Old Town and had a bus pick up there. Then, the bus took everyone back to Old Town. If people were not staying in the hotels, but didn’t want to find parking downtown, they could park in a garage in Old Town and take the shuttle.

That might be an option for OP if guests would need to walk back to the ceremony location for their car at the end of the night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We attended a wedding where the ceremony was at a DC monument and reception was in Old Town— so, I recognize that is not the same as OP’s situation. What I liked about what they did, though, was they booked hotel blocks in Old Town and had a bus pick up there. Then, the bus took everyone back to Old Town. If people were not staying in the hotels, but didn’t want to find parking downtown, they could park in a garage in Old Town and take the shuttle.

That might be an option for OP if guests would need to walk back to the ceremony location for their car at the end of the night.

Whoa, you can have ceremonies at a DC monument?? I thought you couldn't have a formal photographer set up at the monuments?? Has that changed??

[Anonymous]

The people who get the most excited about these events and who will talk about it for years to come are the elderly. You need to cater to them. Hoping a family squeezes Aunt Lulu into an Uber with them is crazy. What if she falls trying to get in? You need transportation and if you have any elderly with mobility issues it needs to be handicap friendly. Don't depend on the kindness of strangers. You are the hostess. Find out what aunt Lulu needs to be transported safely and do it and don't cause your fancy friends who wear heals issues just because you are too cheap to hire transportation.

Yes, the wedding is your day, but if you want people to celebrate with you then it isn't all about you and your needs. A host or hostess thinks about guests. If you don't care about the disabled then show your cards and don't invite them. If you don't care about people ruining their heals and fancy clothes then make sure they know they are on their own so they can decide whether or not to go based on the facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The people who get the most excited about these events and who will talk about it for years to come are the elderly. You need to cater to them. Hoping a family squeezes Aunt Lulu into an Uber with them is crazy. What if she falls trying to get in? You need transportation and if you have any elderly with mobility issues it needs to be handicap friendly. Don't depend on the kindness of strangers. You are the hostess. Find out what aunt Lulu needs to be transported safely and do it and don't cause your fancy friends who wear heals issues just because you are too cheap to hire transportation.

Yes, the wedding is your day, but if you want people to celebrate with you then it isn't all about you and your needs. A host or hostess thinks about guests. If you don't care about the disabled then show your cards and don't invite them. If you don't care about people ruining their heals and fancy clothes then make sure they know they are on their own so they can decide whether or not to go based on the facts.

Here is the real issue: it is not only about Aunt Lulu. Aunt Lulu is great, but she is *not the only one* who does not want to walk from the ceremony to the reception. People, dressed up for a wedding (not a back yard barbecue, an actual wedding) really do not want to walk from the ceremony to the reception. They just don't, but they will not say so IRL. It is the bride and groom's responsibility to provide transportation. In the city, parking is a real issue - so it is on the bride and the groom to accommodate the people they invited. It costs money to attend a wedding, people don't want to be treated like you really don't care about them, one way or the other. That is rude.

My cousin just had a wedding recently, with a reception literally five minutes away. They hired a trolley/bus thing, and it was a hit! Everyone rode it, because everyone deserved to ride it, and to be accommodated, not just one person. That would have been ridiculous, and quite rude, if they had said only one guest mattered. If only one guest matters, just invite that one person, and save the money from the reception for that person's transportation.

[Anonymous]

I had a similar setup - dc wedding in early fall. Ceremony and reception were 5 blocks away from each other. Probably a 10 minute walk. We still provided shuttles. Many people drove. I don’t know if many walked.

People are wearing nice gowns and shoes. They don’t want to walk. And if they do the option should be provided t for transportation. A few shuttle limos are fairly reasonable price wise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am in the midst of planning a summer wedding. Our ceremony and reception are at different venues but the two are a ten minute walk from each other (five minute drive) and both in downtown DC. My usual instinct is that when a wedding has two venues, it's incumbent upon the hosts to provide transportation but I'm not sure if that's true here.
Would it be unreasonable to ask guests to walk from one venue to the next? Or otherwise make their own way?
I have not made my mind up either way so would love advice on balance cost (of transportation) and etiquette.

In the summer? It will be hot. I would hate to walk 10 minutes in heels, in a dress, in the heat. you could probably rent one bus and have it go back and forth until all quests get to reception area.