Transportation for Bridal Party?

als0822

All members of our bridal party are from out of town and will be staying downtown FW. I would like to provide transportation from our church in Keller back downtown to their hotels/where the reception will be taking place. We are planning to take pictures downtown after ceremony and before the reception. Few questions:

1. If providing transportation for the bridal party - should this transportation also be provided for their spouses/guests?
2. What sort of transportation is recommended? Limo? Bus? Other?
3. What transportation vendors would you former brides recommend based on personal experience?

MarieSD

I hired a shuttle bus for all my OOT guests -- this included my wedding party, their dates, and my OOT family and friends. H and I also used the shuttle for our transportation, too. I found it a lot easier for me to move around in my big ol' wedding dress in a bus than I would have in a limo. The driver made as many trips as were necessary to get everyone from the hotel to the church, from the church to the reception, then back to the hotel whenever they wanted to go back.

It was a big extra expense, but one I'd budgeted for from the beginning because I wanted to do this for everyone who was traveling so far for my wedding. (And I already knew a bunch of them were not comfortable driving in such a big city).

I used Silver West Limo and was really happy with them.

MichelleAG05

Marie - do you mind telling me the approx cost of the shuttle?

I'm hoping to just ask my hotel if they will provide a shuttle. 

Jen6862

How far away is the hotel from the church? My hotel provided transportation from the hotel to the reception, but it was only 10 miles away. Most hotels have a perimeter they like to stay within.

MarieSD

I want to say it came to about $100 an hour? That was the complete cost -- their quote included gas, trips anywhere someone needed to go during that time (i.e., it took someone that wasn't feeling well all the way to their house to drop them off), and most importantly, the driver's tip. It was something like a 16-passenger bus.

I know I paid $2,000 total but we had the shuttle for 20 hours (Friday night and Saturday night, to cover RD and wedding activities).

FWIW, I researched and the only downtown FW hotel that has a shuttle is the Holiday Inn Express. So, I had all my guests (and I) book there to use that. Two weeks before the wedding, they told me that they wouldn't be able to shuttle my guests to the wedding events after all because it was .5 outside of their 3-mile radius. (They'd previously told me it would be no problem -- I'd checked this with them a year beforehand, but apparently there was no record/paper trail/none of the same people that could be reached).

So yeah, definitely get something in writing if you intend to use a free hotel shuttle!

als0822

My guests are staying downtown - Embassy Suites and Courtyard Marriott and ceremony is in Keller. I looked into Holiday Inn Suites as well and was told the same thing about the shuttle I don't want to take that risk and my mom was a little hesitant about having guests stay on the edge of town in that area. (I'm planning this from out of state) so I took her word.

MarieSD we've chatted before - did you get married at SEAS by chance? I've tossed the idea of providing transportation to DR too but pretty sure I can't do that. Am suggesting that bridal party rents a SUV or something larger and split the cost of rental.parking - is that tacky? Where are the cheaper overnight parking lots downtown? Any way to get around parking at the hotel lots that are $20 per day?

MarieSD

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_texas-dallas-ft-worth_transportation-bridal-party?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:102Discussion:83deb315-6c03-4683-9c69-17fc5aa39dfePost:b062235c-3d2a-48e9-89dd-048a01968f45">Re: Transportation for Bridal Party?</a>:
[QUOTE]My guests are staying downtown - Embassy Suites and Courtyard Marriott and ceremony is in Keller. I looked into Holiday Inn Suites as well and was told the same thing about the shuttle I don't want to take that risk and my mom was a little hesitant about having guests stay on the edge of town in that area. (I'm planning this from out of state) so I took her word. MarieSD we've chatted before - did you get married at SEAS by chance? I've tossed the idea of providing transportation to DR too but pretty sure I can't do that. Am suggesting that bridal party rents a SUV or something larger and split the cost of rental.parking - is that tacky? Where are the cheaper overnight parking lots downtown? Any way to get around parking at the hotel lots that are $20 per day?
Posted by als0822[/QUOTE]

Nope, I got married at a church in Fort Worth and had my reception at the YWCA in downtown FW.

It's not tacky, IMO, to suggest to them to split the cost of an SUV, but I'd do just that -- suggest it once, then let them decide what they're going to do.

I listed out all kinds of information on my wedding website -- the various hotels and any associated costs (like the parking fees you mention), approximate cost to take a shuttle or cab from DFW/DAL airports, and the cost to rent a car for the weekend.

In the end, everyone stayed at the least expensive hotel and took the most convenient mode of transportation (cab or the shuttle I'd prearranged). The cab was the most expensive mode of transportation, but a bunch of guests used it because it was more convenient. Because I wanted to offset that cost, I asked a hotel clerk to use my CC to pay a portion of their room costs. So that's another option to help with the $$ without arranging their transportation directly.