Who rides?

LizzyRB

Last night fi and I were talking about limo options...

We plan to do a first look downtown, take limo/party bus around the city to take pictures at a few different locations, and then drop us off at the venue. So who would be in the limo? Us and the bridal party of course, but do parents ride too? Siblings? Flower girl?

Also we were thinking the limo would take us back to our hotel at the end of the night but who rides then? Just us? Do we take all the bridal party back to the hotel or would they ride home with their spouses?

StephJean83

I've been in/at weddings where they had a bus pick people up from the hotel and took them to the reception hall and back at the end of the night so people could enjoy themselves and not worry. I've also seen where the wedding(ceremony/reception) is in a different location from the hotel(s) booked because the town that the wedding is doesn't have hotels or it was a location that didn't have lodging accommadations(vineyard) and they provided a bus from the hotel to the wedding and back to the hotel. You can always provide the shuttle bus for those that want to use it, especially if you will be taking it back at the end of the night. I would look at renting a bus(charter/school) vs a limo bus if you plan on providing the service for all guests just because my sisters both used buses(one school and one charter) and it was by far cheaper than had they rented a limo bus.

As far as who rides to the pictures, I suggest whoever you want to be in the pictures. If you wanted to do some family pictures(parents, siblings, nieces/nephews) at a certain location, let them know so they can either plan on driving there or ride along. I would of course have the WP ride with you to the different locations for more WP pictures. My favorite pictures are ones where the WP isn't standing perfect in the church but doing fun stuff at a park or favorite location.

Meegles4

Our limo bus was only us, BMs, GM, and our flower girl and junior GM. Our parents didn't ride in our limo bus, and nor did siblings if they weren't in the wedding party. We didn't do spouses of WP members, but would have considered it if we'd had a big enough limo bus.

As for the end of the night, you should check with the vendor to see if that's affordable for you. Depending on how long your reception is, you'd be paying the limo to sit for unused time. In my example, we would have had to pay for it for 8 hours (two prior to the reception, and then the entire 6 hour reception since we weren't leaving until the end). If you can find a company that will let you do time early in the evening and later in the evening, that's great, but I think many want to book for one block of time instead of two blocks of time with a gap in between.

If you can't have a limo stay and take you home, you could order a cab or car service for you and your H at the end of the night. You could also plan ahead and have a car parked at the reception site for you and your H to leave in. In our case, my parents drove us back to the hotel because we were all headed that way but our Plan A had been to take the hotel shuttle back with our guests.

If your WP's SOs aren't riding in the limo for pictures, then you should just let them drive home with their SOs at the end of the night. Their SOs will likely have a car at the reception site and it's easy for them to get a ride that way.

KatWAG

We had a party bus for H and I and the wedding party. We didnt have any Jr BMs or Flower girls. We would have included significant other on this bus but we simply didnt have run considering how big our wedding party was. We did a first look also. So it took us from the hotel, to various picture locations, to the church, reception and back to the hotel.

We had a second bus that took H and I's family to and forth the hotels, church, and reception.

At the end of the night both buses circled between the two hotels and the reception location to take any guest back.

[Deleted User]

My fiance is a limo driver and I've heard all sorts of stories. First you have to take into consideration the size of the limo. If they say it fits say 20, then allow for about 15 people. On most limos if they say 20 that means 20 people packed up next to each other. You need to allow room for your dress & for the girls dresses so they aren't getting sat on by other people & all wrinkled.

Once you've figured out how much room you have, figure out who you want in the pre ceremony photos. That will determine next who gets invited. Like a PP said, you may opt to have some individuals like parents/siblings meet you at the location. Especially if they are someone who may want to leave the reception earlier so having their own car with them during the day would be beneficial.

At the end of the night, if your bridal party is going to the same location you are and you want to let them take the limo bus back with you so they don't have to drive (or worry about drinking) that is not common, but if they are going home & have a date/spouse at the reception, don't require them to go back to the hotel.

One thing that are doing is having the single bridesmaids drop off their cars at the reception location between the hair salon & going to my parents house where we're getting picket up. The groomsmen are getting picked at the reception hall & taken to the church. This way everyone has a car at the reception hall for when they are ready to leave at the end of the night. Our parents are all driving themselves because we are doing photos between ceremony & reception & they aren't coming for all photos, this way they can go home & relax if they want or entertain out of town guests that are staying with them.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

We had the limo pick us up at the hotel where we were staying, go to a few downtown locations for photos, then drop us off at the ceremony. Then it took the wedding party to the reception while we did a few more photos, then came back for us. The people in the limo were us, our BMs, our GMs and the photographer. We did not have an RB or flower girl.

We also had a shuttle for guests. After the limo dropped us at the reception, it left. My SIL drove my husband's car over, then took the shuttle back to the hotel, and we drove ourselves back to the hotel after the reception.