Location Codes for Weddings and Private Venues

Weddings and private celebrations often take place away from the usual addresses of public life: a country house at the end of a long drive, a garden, a barn, a farm, a beach pavilion. Guests travel from other cities, arrive in rental cars and rely on a navigation app that often takes them to the wrong gate of a large estate.

Where guests go wrong

The address on the invitation is the postal address of the estate, which may be a gatehouse a kilometre from the venue. Satellite navigation can lead guests to a service road, a farm entrance or a locked gate. The couple's phone starts ringing at the exact moment they would prefer it did not.

One point for each audience

A venue or planner can give each group its own code:

• Guests' arrival entrance and car park.
• Ceremony location, if different from the reception.
• Supplier entrance for caterers, florists and musicians.
• Shuttle pick-up points at the hotel or the station.
• Photography spots, if the photographer wants guests to meet there.

Print the guest code on the invitation or the "details" card. Send the supplier code in the planning sheet. Sharing one code with an entire group avoids a hundred individual directions.

Making it work

Test the pin on the ground before you publish it. Walk the route from the main road, confirm that the gate is unlocked on the day and check whether signal is available at the venue. If it is not, remind guests to open the map before leaving the main road.

Limits and consent

A code is a pointer. It does not manage RSVPs, seating or timing. Private venues should take care about publishing exact locations on open social media pages, since a precise pin may expose a home that is normally not public. Share with invitees rather than with everyone.

Venues that take bookings through a website can ask hosts for a pin using the embedded map; see the documentation. Related pages: events and festivals and hotels and short-term rentals.

Timing the message

Include the code in the final-details message a week before the date, not only in the first invitation. People look for directions at the last minute, and a recent message is the one they open.