Bride and groom force 100 wedding guests to drive to 4 different wedding venues over the course of their wedding: 'It was over 30 miles, through LA traffic in 100°F heat.'

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

Aug 14, 2026 12:30 PM EDT

Have you ever been to a wedding that surprises you with multiple extra locations?

It's pretty common for brides and grooms to ask a lot of their wedding guests. They don't like to think about how the most important day of their lives might be a major inconvenience for some of their friends and family. They assume everyone will be as enthusiastic as they are about every part of the wedding, no matter how absurd. Maybe their love is making them delusional, but nobody should be demanding that all of the male guests go out and buy a mint-colored suit so that all of the pictures look uniform, no matter how in love they are!

The bride and groom in this story had a wedding that was much like Mitch and Cam's in Modern Family. Instead of having 4 wedding venues because of sitcom disasters, they had 4 wedding venues because they didn't think twice about majorly inconveniencing their guests and making them spend a ton on parking.

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*A bride and groom kiss each other after their wedding ceremony before they tell their guests that there are four different venues for the reception.*
*_{Models pictured are not representative.}*

Am I the bad guy for leaving a wedding reception after the bride and groom had us drive to 4 different locations, over 30 miles, through LA traffic in 100°F heat?

Hello! We went to a wedding on Saturday and after the ceremony (which ended around 12) we were all given an address for the reception.

They should only do this if they can fit the wedding guests in their car! Or they provide transportation.

We get there and after we all finished eating (salads, chicken/fish), the bride and groom stand up and ask the guests to accompany them to the next location for the rest of the reception, 12 miles away. Mind you, we are about 75-100 guests.

What's the point of eating two dinners at a wedding?

We head over, where another meal was served, a main course of Mexican food which was ok. After we finished eating, again, they stood up and asked us to accompany them to the next location for the rest of the party. No

dancing, no speeches, we just sat and ate. I expected it to be a hall with a dance floor in the same building or something, but no 8 miles further, taking us into downtown LA.

*Downtown Los Angeles, where the second reception venue is located.*
*_{Stock photo unrelated.}*

I would've sweated off all of my makeup at this point.

By now it's 4 pm, we've paid $12 valet at restaurant 1 and $18 at restaurant 2. Some of the guests were a little ped off but we all head out and went. Took about 40 minutes to get there in traffic, and it was almost 100F that day.

They should've reimbursed their guests for gas money at the very least

We get to restaurant 3, this time desserts were served. $20 parking. Same thing. They got up and asked us to go to location 4 for the remainder of the evening, and they didn't say what will be there. It was 30 miles away!!! Like

30 further out from the main wedding ceremony, and my home! At that point I'm almost 60 miles away from home. I found out later that there was an open bar and a dance floor and that's where the "party" was...

*The dance floor at the final wedding venue of the evening.*
*_{Models pictured are not representative.}*

At this point i said my congrats and went home. It was already 7 pm and we were sweaty from the extreme heat, overworked, and exhausted from all the driving.

They would be fools if they didn't see this coming

I found out yesterday that almost half the guests went home. Now I'm wondering if I did the wrong thing by leaving. I feel bad that they had to go to the main party without almost half of their guests. I also understand that they

It's a recipe for disaster

wanted to do something different and memorable with their wedding, but the driving around was just hectic. It felt inconsiderate to have almost 100 guests driving from place to place, in LA traffic, just to eat at each location rather than

actually celebrate together. And that's not even thinking about the $50 in valet we spent at the three places. I asked and venue 4 was also $18 valet.

Maybe I should have just sucked it up, driven the extra 30 miles and stayed for the actual party. At the same time, it was already 7 pm and we'd been doing this for basically the entire day. I would have just sat on a chair fanning myself with my feet up.

Jay-Quellin30 No. NTA. Was this communicated with the wedding invite? If not; that's on them. That's misleading the guests. Also, if this is what they really wanted, they should have arranged shuttle and transportation for all the guests.

This is not a fun surprise for anyone but the bride and groom.

tmamir OP NOT AT ALL. They gave the address for the first venue only. When the announced the second location they were both giggling and were intending it as a fun surprise for everyone. God I feel so bad... but if it was communicated, my friends and I would have carpooled and maybe continued the night.

Embarrassed_Shirt938 If they were going to send people to 4 different venues, they should have provided transportation for all their guests. What an idiotic plan for a wedding celebration.

jayhof52 A party bus (or series of buses) between venues would have been an excellent touch, but not the system OP described.

This is the most Los Angeles wedding idea to ever exist.

2dogslife For less than the cost of parking at all the venues, had the guests been made aware of the "progressive wedding" and been given a choice, I am certain most would have paid to ride an air conditioned bus instead of sitting in traffic, wasting fuel, and paying for parking, then redoing it all maybe an hour later.

Maybe the bride and groom like traffic?

Nortex Vortex What poor form. To think it would be "fun" for 100 people, in wedding attire, to go on a scavenger hunt all over LA for their wedding reception in the height of summer. This is absolutely tone deaf. Don't feel bad. Half of the guests were pred off too. The bride and groom's musical chairs wedding wore thin and that's on them, not you or the other guests who'd had enough. I can't imagine that it never once occurred to them how big an ask something like this would be of their guests.

PerceptionOk3196 NTA- they would have lost me after location 1

Butterfly_and_Bee Church to reception hall is normal, but people have stopped even doing that because it's a hassle.

Appropriate-Lime-167 Did they have a wedding planner? Why did they ever think that this would be feasible or considerate of their guests, especially since they had 70-100 people come out? They did this to themselves, NTA

Lotsowine As an event planner, I would have walked away from this mess. If they did have one at all, they obviously didn't take their advice that this would be a logistical nightmare.

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