Providing transportation for guests?

cvanburen · August 2012

Hello! I was just wondering what would be the best way to go about this.

My venue is about 15-20 minutes from the hotel we booked a block of rooms in for our out of town guests. The venue is in kind of a remote place with nothing closer. That being said, guests will have a bit of driving to do from the hotel to the venue and back. We do have vehicles for the wedding party, though.

The wedding isn't a dry one, we're providing alcohol/beer and when it runs out, it runs out, and that's it. But there will still be alcohol consumed.

I've looked into getting transportation for guests staying at the hotel and found the cheapest option for how many seats we needed would be school busses. However, it's still pretty expensive and we'd need at least two. We really can't swing the cost for two, potentially three busses.

I've spoken to family about this and I've been told to let them worry about themselves, they're all adults and will just have to be responsible and look after themselves. I've also been told to "do my best to squeeze it into the budget."

Now my question is this: is it bad form to not provide guests transportation to the hotel?

I have a feeling if I only get one then people would complain if they couldn't fit on, so I was figuring I just wouldn't do it at all, but maybe I'd find a way if it was some mortal sin to not offer it.

courtski2004 · August 2012

If you are able to afford the cost I think it is a nice service to provide, especially if you have a good amount of guests from OOT that are not familiar with the area. If you aren't able to swing it, people need to be responsible adults and be able to get themselves from the wedding back home or to the hotel just like any other night out.

If you choose this option, you should try to get an idea of who would be utilizing the shuttle beforehand so that you can schedule the amount of buses accordingly. Maybe include that in the RSVP?

KellyBrian2013 · August 2012

Is there a cab company that will serve the area? Are guests legally safely able to leave their vehicles at the reception venue overnight?

TurtlesAllTheWayDown · August 2012

It is completely up to you.

However, you don't necessarily need multiple busses. You could do a few runs with the same bus. This is what we did (our ceremony and reception sites were separate, so we did 2 runs from the hotel to the ceremony, 2 runs from the ceremony to the reception - family stayed behind for photos - and then 3 runs from the reception back to the hotel, depending on when people wanted to leave).

However, almost all weddings I've been to, transportation has not been provided. People are adults and can handle their own transportation needs.

cvanburen · August 2012

Thanks for the replies!

I think the best answer is 'all of them' would have to use it. Even the family that wouldn't drink would want an excuse to be lazy (I know FI's family pretty well). I can't really say 'only if your blood alcohol level is over this line' as much as I'd want to lol. tbh, we're not overly familiar with the area, either. It's out-of-town for all of us.

As far as leaving the cars overnight, probably not. Our wedding is on a Friday night and there's another wedding scheduled for Saturday. If we were to use a shuttle, they'd leave cars at the hotel and take the shuttle there, and then back.

cvanburen · August 2012

@merymac

Turnaround time can potentially be 40 minutes, and I'm not sure it would be okay to leave groups of people there close to midnight and then around 12:30. We're already paying to have the reception extended from 10:00 to 11:00, so we may be kicked out lol

TurtlesAllTheWayDown · August 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_providing-transportation-for-guests?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:6ca228d2-8035-46dc-acd6-aabe862953c2Post:756b1dae-725f-4d05-91b3-079b4fe7e77b">Re: Providing transportation for guests?</a>:
[QUOTE]@merymac Turnaround time can potentially be 40 minutes, and I'm not sure it would be okay to leave groups of people there close to midnight and then around 12:30. We're already paying to have the reception extended from 10:00 to 11:00, so we may be kicked out lol
Posted by cvanburen[/QUOTE]

We ran them starting an hour before the reception ended. We figured older guests and people with kids might like to leave a little early. But I agree - the absolute last time we could be there was 11pm, so the last shuttle left right at 11!

ootmother2 · August 2012

We provided aa bus shuttle between the three hotels and the church at one set time per hotel.

Two rounds between the church and the reception venue.

Two rounds after the reception. One at 9:00 PM and one at 11:30 (last run.

the area of Cape Cod where the events took place can be confusing during the daylight, never mind after dark.

cvanburen · August 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_providing-transportation-for-guests?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:6ca228d2-8035-46dc-acd6-aabe862953c2Post:4d8cc697-ce85-4039-8248-2e3aea527493">Re: Providing transportation for guests?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Providing transportation for guests? : We ran them starting an hour before the reception ended. We figured older guests and people with kids might like to leave a little early. But I agree - the absolute last time we could be there was 11pm, so the last shuttle left right at 11!
Posted by msmerymac[/QUOTE]

Hmm.. that's not a bad idea. I'd just worry that not enough people would leave and we'd have too many people needing to leave at 11. The people with little kids are the ones I know we don't have to worry about drinking, anyway lol. There's so few kids coming that I spoke with them directly about this.

I'm gonna hope that people can be responsible adults. There's really only a handful of big offenders (on my side really lol) that I think they can manage to find someone to drive them.

cvanburen · August 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_providing-transportation-for-guests?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:6ca228d2-8035-46dc-acd6-aabe862953c2Post:a2a2158b-1952-490b-8e8f-562c1b26f08b">Re: Providing transportation for guests?</a>:
[QUOTE]We provided aa bus shuttle between the three hotels and the church at one set time per hotel. Two rounds between the church and the reception venue. Two rounds after the reception. One at 9:00 PM and one at 11:30 (last run. the area of Cape Cod where the events took place can be confusing during the daylight, never mind after dark.
Posted by ootmother2[/QUOTE]

Woah, that's a lot of coordinating! Luckily we'd just have the one route, to and from the venue. I'm pretty sure it's just a straight shot to the hotel from the venue (south Jersey farmlands and back roads don't really make for a lot of confusion, especially when the hotel is pretty much the only thing on the road).

gailpete · August 2012

We used a cab company that provided minivans for $50 an hour + tip per van. We used 2, but you could do more. When one van filled up it left and then came back and they just kept running until everyone was gone. We had one van run from after dinner, until about 90 minutes before the end of the reception and then a second one started. Our roundtrip was about 15-20 minutes.

cvanburen · August 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_providing-transportation-for-guests?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:6ca228d2-8035-46dc-acd6-aabe862953c2Post:78ec9a71-bc30-479b-8e31-4417e9718b54">Re: Providing transportation for guests?</a>:
[QUOTE]We used a cab company that provided minivans for $50 an hour + tip per van. We used 2, but you could do more. When one van filled up it left and then came back and they just kept running until everyone was gone. We had one van run from after dinner, until about 90 minutes before the end of the reception and then a second one started. Our roundtrip was about 15-20 minutes.
Posted by gailpete[/QUOTE]

That would work if we didn't need to have them for 6 hours. Anyone that needs transportation back can't leave their car, so they'd need the shuttle to bring them from the hotel to the place. That's what makes the cost so high, really. We can't cut the time into shifts (believe me, I've tried). Unless the company you went with allows this. If so, are they a chain? lol I'd give them a call if they let me use them from.. say, 5-6 and then 10-11. I could probably even get a few at 50.00.

cvanburen · August 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_providing-transportation-for-guests?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:6ca228d2-8035-46dc-acd6-aabe862953c2Post:abad9e39-a590-45fc-94b2-c3922fb2a65e">Re: Providing transportation for guests?</a>:
[QUOTE]You are under no obligation to provide transportation. If you have a family like mine where you know that people habitually drive drunk it's probably worth providing it though. We're skipping flowers so we can afford the shuttle. This is mostly for our piece of mind. I don't want to end my wedding reception watching clearly inebriated people peel off into the night. I know the line is "you can count on people to behave like responsible adults," but in my family that simply isn't the reality. You know your family best. If you forgo the shuttle will a lot of people drive drunk home? If the answer is "Yes" then think about getting one. Etiquette doesn't require it though.
Posted by HoorayForSoup[/QUOTE]

We're running out of things to cut, even! lol if I could trim the fat somewhere and put transportation in instead, I would. We're not even using flowers aside from the free ones FI's cousin is giving us (a couple of bouquets, she's a florist).

Most of his side probably won't even drink, and I think the ones on my side that will will have someone to cart them to the hotel.

Thanks for all of the input though. It really is helping to know I'm not committing some sin by not offering a shuttle. And the more I read comments and form my own replies, the more I realize it isn't really necessary. If we come across the cash then I'd love to be able to offer it though.

Loopyseven · August 2012

I wouldn't worry about it. It's totally not necessary to provide transportation, and personally, I wouldn't want to be reliant on a scheduled transport that is only available at a certain time. What if I start not feeling well and want to leave early. I'd probably drive myself regardless of available shuttles and am responsible enough to make sure I can drive or call a cab if necessary. Or hitch a ride with someone else. We ended up giving one of our friend's aunt and uncle a ride home after their wedding when they had a bit too much to drink.

musicalcanadianbride · August 2012

You do not need to provide transportation for your guests. They are adults and are fully capable of making their way to the hotel in a cab. Or, they can just have a DD.

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