Transportation - what do we have to provide?

sueandmichal

We are planning our wedding for next year. We don't have a venue or date set yet, however we know we want to get married in a Church and then have the reception elsewhere.  Question is, what is "required' of us in terms of providing transportation? We will provide for the wedding party and probably our parents, but what about other guests? Do we provide a shuttle from the hotel to the Church and then from there to the venue? What about guests who are not staying at a hotel? (I don't think there are too many out of town guests).   Any advice will be appreciated.  Also, anyone know the approximate cost of providing a shuttle on Long Island (even if it's a basic school bus).
Thank you.

DeeMarie213

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! For my wedding, I had provided directions from the church to the reception hall and had all guests transport themselves. After all, they got themselves to the church and will need a ride back home or to the hotel. Honestly, arranging transportation for all guests to the reception hall and back to the church to get their vehicles at the end of the night seems like a logistical nightmare to me! Also, allowing the guests to drive themselves gives them the piece of mind that they can leave whenever they would like.

OliveOilsMom

I only provided transportation to the WP and our parents.  The SO of the WP drove separately so they were able to have a ride home at the end of the night.   And our parents were driven home by my siblings. The SO of the WP also dropped off their SO with the bride or groom, so that they were available to catch the bus.  We actually only used one limo bus.  It picked up the guys and dropped them off at the church, came and picked up us girls and dropped us off at the church.  Then everyone went in the limo bus to the reception. 

You are still so far out, I would first figure your total budget for the wedding.  Book your church, then reception hall.  Transportation should be the last thing your thinking of right now.  You may not even have it in the budget, once you start booking the expensive things.

s-aries8990

Maybe provide transportation from the hotel to the reception. Everyone drives themselves/figures their own ride to the church. During the "gap" (there will most likely be one based on the driving distance from ceremony to reception) people can check in at the hotel and board the bus.

Make sure guests who are staying at the hotel know when the bus to the ceremony is leaving the hotel, if they would like to use it (put it on wedding website). Have the bus leave hotel at time x- those guets might arrive shortly after the beginning of the cocktail hour based on logistics. Just don't hold off on the cocktail hour on all of the guests because some of your guests chose to use the transportation you provided.

It all depends on the location of everything.

[Deleted User]

Depends on your budget. You don't have to provide transportation for anyone if it doesn't work into your budget. The nice thing about providing transportation to your WP & parents is that if you go around after church for photos, it makes it easier to keep everyone together.

For guests, again, you are not required to provide transportation. But if you have guests staying at a hotel, depending on the location of the hotel to the reception, you may want to see if the hotel will provide shuttle service for free or a small charge.This way they can leave their cars at the hotel & don't have to worry about drinking & driving.

For OOT guest getting to the ceremony, depends on how they traveled to get to the wedding. If they drove, they will have a car & be ok with getting there. Maybe make them some maps/directions just for them on how to get there. For guests that have to fly in, depending on how many, see if they plan on renting a car of is someone in your family going to be picking them up & then giving them a ride over the weekend.

My OOT guests will be coming in all via car except for two who are staying w/my parents so they will drive w/them to the different locations.

melb2013

Having transportation for anyone is not a requirement.  WP and parents will probably expect that they will be transported, but as a guest, I would never expect this.  I've only attended one wedding that shuttled guests from the hotel to the venue, and I didn't take the shuttle as I wanted to be able to come as go as I pleased- I'm so anti-social, I know!

StephJean83

When my sisters got married they both had provided transportation from the hotel(s) to the reception venue and back at the end of the night. The buses they had did multiple runs throughout the night(one run at 9pm, one at 10pm, one at 11pm and the last one at 12 midnight) so those that wanted to leave early and were staying at the hotel could and those that wanted to stay til the end could. There were plenty of guests who drove themselves so they could come and go as they wanted. My FH drove to the reception hall for one sister's wedding because his mom flew in the day before and her bag was lost and was due in around 9pm on Saturday(the airport only has 2 flights per day,  one morning flight out and one night flight in). They provided the bus because they knew a lot of guests would be drinking and they didn't want anyone to risk driving drunk.

Have you started looking at venues? I've never been to Long Island so I don't know how Churches, hotels and reception halls are located in relation to each other. If they are spread out and can get confusing going from the hotel to the reception hall, maybe have a bus for people, especially OOT guests. Or if the reception hall is a bit of a drive from where the hotels are, than having transportation is usually appreciated. I was a wedding this spring at a vineyard and though we ended up driving there because we got there right as the wedding was starting, they had a bus for guests to take from the hotel to the vineyard before the ceremony and at the end of the night. Another wedding I was at recently the town the wedding/reception was in didn't have much for lodging(a few cabins and one B&B), they provided a bus at the end of the night for guests to take back to the hotel. 

When you start looking at venues, ask about parking because a venue I'm looking at can hold up to 400 people but they only have parking for 100 cars, and yes families usually come in one car and friends/family can carpool but if the venue holds a different event that is at the same time as our reception, there wouldn't be any parking left for them. The venue has a working relationship with 3 hotels and all of them provide their own transportation from the hotel to the venue and back again at the end of the night. You could see if the hotel offers transportation at all and if they do, maybe the guests can take advantage of that from the hotel to the reception hall.

Daizy106

Please note that you do not have to provide transportation for the guests. THe only people that you need to arrange for transportation for is you and your FH, and the WP.

I live in Brooklyn, and Ive been pricing around a few limo places in the LI and LIC area, and i have seen anywhere from 550 + Gratuity and Tax to $950 + gratuity and tax. Keep in mind that this pricing is based on a 18 passenger Escalade. Prices will vary depending on the car. Also keep in mind that the minimum rental time is 3 hrs.
My FI and I have decided that we are only renting one limo, and that limo will be for us, and the bridal party. Our wedding is very local. Everything from the Church to the Reception hall is within a mile of eachother, so there was no need for the extra transportation. We were thinking of having a Rolls Royce for just us, but it really is a waste of $$ for us because we won't get to enjoy it bc like i said-our church is 10 blocks from the venue. My mom is driving herself to the venue because she wants to have the car just incase I need to put stuff in there, and drive people home at the end of the night. My FI's parents live 3 blocks from the Church, so they will be walking to the church and driving themselves to the venue.
Don't put the stress on yourself about worrying how people will get to and from. People will figure that out, people will carpool etc. But first and foremost, set a date, book your church and reception hall first. Then worry about everything else. Good luck and CONGRATS!!!

Kath1083

As PP have stated you do not need to provide transportation.  However, a hotel might provide a shuttle to the reception for your guests.  Ours did this free of charge. 

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

We provided a shuttle from the hotel to the ceremony, to the reception, and back to the hotel. This was a trip of only a few miles and we had the shuttle pick up people at the hotel twice, then make 2 trips to the reception, then make 3 (staggered) trips back to the hotel.

I live in a high COL area and because everything was separate, this insured most people didn't need to rent cars or pay for taxis.

However, our hotel didn't have a shuttle we could use AND most of our guests were OOT. If many of your OOT guests will have relatives or friends who are also invited to the wedding and might be able to give them a ride, or you have so few OOT guests that a shuttle would be overkill, I would really not worry about this at all.

Calypso1977

it is not required that you provide transportation, just as it isnt required that you provide things like child care, activities for kids, welcome bags, bathroom baskets, etc.

typically people do provide some sort of transportation for the WP.

avolker1

I'm getting married in North Jersey, which is somewhat similar to Long Island.  Our hotel provides a free round-trip shuttle based on the number of rooms that are booked in our block.  We are paying a fee to have them stop at the ceremony and then go to the reception site.  I talked to another hotel and they also charged a fee for the extra stop, even though it is completely on the way to the reception.  I think a lot of hotels in the area do provide a free shuttle but when you start adding in multiple stops they will charge you.

I'm getting a credit towards the shuttle fee depending on how many rooms are booked.  We could just have people drive to the ceremony then give them enough time to get to the hotel to catch the shuttle to the reception but I just wanted to make it easy on guests, especially because we have a lot of out of towners who won't know the area.  And our family and friends are pretty big drinkers so I'd rather just make sure they have a safe ride back to the hotel.

Loopyseven

It is not necessary to provide transportation for your guests.  You don't even HAVE to provide it for the WP (the plan could be that everyone drives their own vehicles/carpools to the reception) but if you want to keep things running smoothly, keep everyone together by providing transportation .  Many hotels will throw in free shuttle services (one or two trips) for guests staying at the hotel if X number of rooms are booked, so make sure you ask about that.  Anything else you want to do is nice, but not necessary.  And be prepared to spend a decent amount of $ on transportation only to have very few people use it so they feel free to leave when they are ready.

Jen4948

Transportation isn't required, but it is a kindness to provide at least driving directions and information about mass transportation to one's guests, especially to those from out of town.  If you know that many out-of-town guests will be at one hotel, then it makes sense (still optional) to provide shuttle service to the ceremony and reception venues.

Summer2011Bride

It is NOT required that you provide transportation for your WP. Is it common? Yes, and if you aren't going to, I would let them know, but even that is not required, and frankly, many times it's easier if you don't.

I mean, if they drive to the ceremony and then you provide a shuttle/limo/whatever to the reception, you'd have to provide transpo to get back to their cars, or it would be a huge hassle for them. Sometimes it's easier to just have them drive themselves from the ceremony to reception. Truly not a big deal if you don't provide transportation.

DramaGeek

You don't have to provide transportation for anyone.  I've never had transportation provided for me as a guest or WP member.

I am curious - those who have shuttles, are guests stuck at the reception until the shuttle comes to take them?  Or do you have the shuttle run every 20 minutes or something all night long?