NYC Wedding - Shuttle bus?

mrospos

I am getting married in DUMBO, and I have reserved a hotel block for guests in Chelsea. Both locations are accessible by public transportation (even on the same subway line, so no transfer required). I had assumed that guests would either take the subway or a cab from the hotel to the ceremony/reception. However, it was suggested to me by many family members that I should provide shuttle buses to bring people from the hotel to the ceremony/reception and then back to the hotel at the end of the night.

Are any NYC brides providing a shuttle for guests? If so, what company are you using?

If not, have you been asked about this by your guests, and if so, what have you told them?

gct2010

We provided a shuttle from the hotel/reception location on 51st Street to the Church and then back after the ceremony. We did that because we thought it would be easier for the guests involved. We didn't want them to have to walk and/or take a cab when they were all dressed up. We did not provide any transportation after the wedding for the guests back to their respective destinations.
 
The feedback from our guests regarding the shuttle was very favorable! They really loved the door to door service.

In your case though it is a bit different because your guests want transportation from their hotel to the reception and back. I mean, it really depends on how accommodating you want to be. Your guests probably will not take a subway in their dressed up state (transfer required or not) and will end up taking a cab.

Alternatively your guests do not have to stay in Manhattan. They can opt to stay closer to your ceremony and reception location.  So should you be responsible for paying for their transportation? 

If I were you i would call around to some companies and get a quote for the shuttle.  It will be on the pricey side most likely because they will charge you for wait time during the reception. Ours was $600 for 3 hours.

We used MTC Limo Company in Bedford Hills, NY for the shuttle that held around 45 people.  They were really great.

I can recommend other companies that my wedding coordinator suggested as well. Just say the word.

Sorry for the novel

mrospos

This is great, thanks so much! I'd love the other recs from your wedding coordinator as well if you can send those along. Some of the places I've contacted are already totally booked for the day, or quoted me prices of around $5,000.

joan_e

This message comes pretty after the fact, but if you haven't locked down your shuttle yet, I'd recommend contacting New York Airport Service. 212-812-2702  http://www.nyairportservice.com/quote.php

We chartered a 56-passenger coach from the ceremony to the reception, just point A to point B and it only cost $350. I know it sounds too good to be true, but I just double checked our emailed invoice for the exact figure. We were in Brooklyn too, shuttling our guests from Greenwood to Fort Green. 

On our RSVP cards, we also included a box for guests to let us know if they planned to be driving themselves or if they would likely rely on the group transportation we were providing, so that way we also knew about how many passengers to accomodate--something to consider if you haven't already squared away your invites.

But without question, the guests really appreciated the shuttle. One of our groomsmen is a NYC tour guide, so we let him expound about the areas the bus was going through as it made its little trip, the out-of-town guests particularly loved that. (His tour-guide company can be reached via http://levysuniqueny.com/ if you're interested in that too! )

joan_e

Oh, I forgot to mention. We provided an ongoing shuttle service starting around 10 p.m going on through about 1 a.m. (I think) that ferried all the guests from the reception either back to the two hotels we recommended or to any of the subway stations in the area. But we didn't provide group transportation to the ceremony, just arranged for a car service to pick up family members who were showing up early for portraits and stuff. Just FYI!

mrospos

Thank you both!