This wedding was supposed to be a fun celebration, but things quickly became exhausting when the guests were unexpectedly asked to travel from one location to another after the ceremony. What started as a seemingly normal reception turned into a long day of driving through Los Angeles traffic in nearly 100°F heat.
With multiple stops, more food at each location, increasing travel distances, and mounting parking costs, the celebration began to feel less like a wedding reception and more like an exhausting road trip. By the time the fourth location was announced, one guest had simply reached their limit.
Feeling overheated, tired, and ready to go home, they decided to leave before the final party even began. But after discovering that many other guests had also called it a day, they started wondering whether leaving was reasonable—or whether they should have pushed through and stayed until the end.
AITAH for Leaving a Wedding After the Bride and Groom Made Us Drive to 4 Different Locations in 100°F LA 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.
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.
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.
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 pissed off but we all head out and went.
Took about 40 minutes to get there in traffic, and it was almost 100F that day. 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…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. 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 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.
We’d been doing this for basically the entire day. I would have just sat on a chair fanning myself with my feet up. AITAH?
The situation has understandably left people divided. On one hand, the bride and groom may have been trying to create a unique wedding experience by taking their guests to different locations throughout the day. But on the other hand, asking a large group to repeatedly drive through LA traffic in extreme heat—especially without clearly explaining how many stops there would be—could understandably become frustrating.
By the time the fourth location was announced, the day had already involved hours of travel, multiple meals, traffic, and additional parking expenses. Leaving at that point might seem completely reasonable to some, while others may feel that guests should have stayed for the actual party, especially since that was where the dancing and open bar were waiting.
Interestingly, this wasn’t just one guest’s reaction. A significant portion of the wedding guests reportedly decided to leave before the final celebration as well. So, was walking away simply knowing your limits, or did leaving before the main party make you a bad wedding guest? What do you think—were they justified in leaving?
