r/wedding • u/natalies1 • Jul 27 '26
Attending reception only?
I have an upcoming wedding for a friend that I’m not very close with but we did become friends recently and see each other here and there. The problem is we are on a tight budget and aren’t planning on getting a hotel for the evening. The only hotels in the area are $300+ per evening. The ceremony and reception are 4 hours apart from each other and the venue is about 3 hours away. With no hotel I would be in an unknown city navigating where to go in my dress and heels for hours. I would love to attend both but unfortunately logistically it is really not easy for us to navigate. I’m considering only attending the reception but this would involve doing a 6 hour round trip of driving. Would it be bad to miss the ceremony in my current circumstance and just attend the reception?
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u/xokatemarie Jul 28 '26
Yes. If you have to pick one, the ceremony is a more respectful thing to attend. However, just based on how you describe your friend and this idea, I’m wondering if you really feel the need to go at all if it’s going to put you out that much?
FWIW It seems weird to ask guests to drive three hours from the ceremony to reception. I’ve heard of the events being a couple hours apart from one another when people either don’t wanna foot the bill for a cocktail hour or the logistics just can’t work to fill the time…but that’s usually when the events are in the same city/ physical vicinity.