Affordable Transportation in East Lansing

Joker1628

We are having a lot of out of town guests as my FI is originally from  Maine. He doesnt want to spend money on a limo or transportation but I htink it's important. 

We are doing the ceremony at the MSU Horticulture Gardens and the reception at the Kellogg Center, so it's not far, but too far to walk.

I don't think a limo would fit our needs but even just a small bus or something that can transport people from the Kellogg Center to the Gardens and back might be good?

Any suggestions?

gailpete

You should check with the MSU transportation department.  I think EMarston rented a Green MSU logoed bus for transportation, and as I recall it was farily reasonable.  You could page her here or on the Detroit board (she's the mod on the Detroit board).

kate51485

I also rented the green bus for wedding party transportation, and it worked out great.

Contact info I used was Darlene at 517-353-4318.

They were really nice to work with and so much cheaper than a limo.

emarston1

Yes!  The green bus was awesome!  Darlene was so nice to work with and it was much cheaper than a limo.  Plus we had an awesome driver

I think I have some pics in my married bio.

Joker1628

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_michigan-lansing_affordable-transportation-east-lansing?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:96Discussion:2c95401b-9f6d-45cf-a0a6-754993ad64c7Post:d6fb1caf-7d05-47bd-9055-329f7296ab96">Re: Affordable Transportation in East Lansing</a>:
[QUOTE]Yes!  The green bus was awesome!  Darlene was so nice to work with and it was much cheaper than a limo.  Plus we had an awesome driver :) I think I have some pics in my married bio.
Posted by emarston1[/QUOTE]
 <div>Is it actually called "the green bus"? I'm looking on the MSU transportation website and cant seem to find anything like the bus in your photos! Help!
</div>

emarston1

They don't really have a lot of info on the website about it but just call Darlene at the phone number Kate listed.  She is extremely helpful.  If you tell her you're interested in the green MSU bus, she'll know what you are talking about.

It was $255 for 2.5 hours.  And I think it seats about 22-25 people from what I remember, I just know it was big enough for our wedding party.

For what it's worth, we didn't have any transportation for our guests.  They were able to park near the chapel and then drive to the Kellogg Center.  Have you asked what parking is available near the gardens?  If I was a guest, I wouldn't necessarily want to go straight back to the Kellogg Center unless I was staying there if you were having any sort of gap between the ceremony and reception.

Joker1628

The reception is going to be at the Kellogg Center. Only the ceremony is at the Gardens. There is parking at the gardengs however we have a lot of people flying in. That's why I thought it might be convenient for those who are staying at the Kellogg center to have the bus, and all local guests could park at the Kellogg center and ride the bus as well.. just seems convenient? But I'm not entirely sure. Was it nice for the wedding party? I thought that might be good too.. to transport us from place to place... is there a distance limit?  Or is it just time?

emarston1

Ah gotcha.  We had a lot of out of town people but very few flew in so they all just rode with other guests if they didn't have a car.  Most guests drove in just before the ceremony, parked at the chapel, then drove themselves to the kellogg center for the reception.

It was really great for our wedding party.  I couldn't justify the cost of getting a limo to haul us aroud campus for pictures and most places I had heard of had a minimum number of hours for a Saturday which we never would have met.  Although to be honest, I didn't really investigate the limo option since the bus suited our needs just fine.  Plus the thing I hate about limos at weddings is that they are a pain to get in and out of.  I couldn't imagine do that in my wedding dress.  So that would have left us with a party bus which essentially the MSU bus was.

I'm not sure if there's a distance limit because we only used it for on campus stuff.  So our contract was based on the amount of time we had it for.  Our bus driver was really nice and friendly.  And everyone thought it was a really neat, unique touch.  A few of the groomsmen complained that they couldn't drink on the bus (no alcohol is allowed) but frankly my husband and I didn't care.  We were going to have an open bar at the reception so they could deal without alcohol for a couple hours.

It was also really helpful because the bus driver knew the campus.  So when we told him we wanted to go to Beaumont, Sparty, or the gardens by the library, he knew exactly where to go and where to park as opposed to a limo driver who may or may not know campus very well.  And not having to worry about giving directions was really nice

Joker1628

Thanks so much for the details! I will have to look into it!

K3whitta

We used Indian Trails - it was $1000 and we had the bus from 10 am - 2 am.  Our driver, Tom, was great!  We were able to use the bus as a shuttle for our guest to/from the reception and all day for the wedding party.