Coordinating ceremony start time and shuttle time

Re: Coordinating ceremony start time and shuttle time

• huskypuppy14 member

  

  September 2014 edited September 2014

  Will you be taking one trip to the ceremony, or will the shuttle have to go back and forth a few times?

  
  

  My friend had her ceremony in downtown Boston, and she had 2 coach buses to take people to the church so they didn't have to deal with parking (the reception was at a hotel.) 

  
  

  Most people used the shuttle, so obviously the wedding couldn't start until the shuttles arrived. 

  
  

  I think she just said the shuttle will leave at 2pm (for a 2:30 wedding) and there were signs in the lobby to remind people. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

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• crackktheskyy member

  

  September 2014

  huskypuppy14 said:

  Will you be taking one trip to the ceremony, or will the shuttle have to go back and forth a few times?

  
  

  My friend had her ceremony in downtown Boston, and she had 2 coach buses to take people to the church so they didn't have to deal with parking (the reception was at a hotel.) 

  
  

  Most people used the shuttle, so obviously the wedding couldn't start until the shuttles arrived. 

  
  

  I think she just said the shuttle will leave at 2pm (for a 2:30 wedding) and there were signs in the lobby to remind people. 

  Good question! We are only taking one trip because we've rented two shuttles. 

  
  

  But we expect many of our guests to use the shuttles because of similar parking situations (and also because the shuttles will take guests home at the end of the evening and so many are staying at the hotel so they don't have to worry about finding a DD!) So basically, we are in a similar predicament and want to be sure we aren't making people wait TOO long at the church or not giving them enough time to get to the church! I was originally thinking 30-45 minute before the start time so that sounds about right!

  
  

  My only concern is that when my cousin got married, she did shuttles (which were a godsend because it was OOT!) but the shuttles didn't leave on time because some of the less polite guests were not ready when it was supposed to leave. I certainly don't want any of our shuttles being late to the ceremony! (Luckily, her shuttles still made it with a little bit of time to go.)

  

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• syoun1nj member

  

  September 2014

  I would think you want guests there about 15 minutes at the very least before the ceremony so they can get to the ceremony site, grab seats, and be ready. I usually get to a ceremony at least 20 minutes early if not earlier.
  
  I'd have the shuttles PLAN to be there at least 30 minutes before start, so there is a little wiggle room if they are running late, there's an accident, etc. So that'd be 45 minutes before ceremony start, if my math is correct.
  

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• crackktheskyy member

  

  September 2014

  syoun1nj said:

  I would think you want guests there about 15 minutes at the very least before the ceremony so they can get to the ceremony site, grab seats, and be ready. I usually get to a ceremony at least 20 minutes early if not earlier.
  
  I'd have the shuttles PLAN to be there at least 30 minutes before start, so there is a little wiggle room if they are running late, there's an accident, etc. So that'd be 45 minutes before ceremony start, if my math is correct.
  

  This is helpful, thanks! I too get to ceremonies early. I was originally thinking about having the trolleys depart from the hotel 45 minutes before the time the ceremony starts, but I just didn't want to be rude to guests by having them wait around for too long, either!

  

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• rsbloom member

  

  September 2014

  Tell the shuttles the schedule and the latest they can leave the hotel. Tell them not to wait for guests. Guests that are late, will have to provide their own transportation, it's not your fault if they miss it. In addition to signs in the lobby, I'd make sure to put a note in each of their rooms, just to be extra safe.

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• crackktheskyy member

  

  September 2014

  rsbloom said:

  Tell the shuttles the schedule and the latest they can leave the hotel. Tell them not to wait for guests. Guests that are late, will have to provide their own transportation, it's not your fault if they miss it. In addition to signs in the lobby, I'd make sure to put a note in each of their rooms, just to be extra safe.

  I think this is a great idea! We are doing hotel bags so we were going to put notes in those. Also, we've dedicated a tab on our wedding website to "shuttle information" where we will provide departure times from the church and pick up times from the reception. Hopefully that will help to let guests know what is going on, as well.

  

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• MandyMost member

  

  September 2014

  I think it's a bit much to expect your guests to wait at the ceremony site for 30 minutes minimum for the ceremony to start. Personally, I would be seriously annoyed to get to the ceremony site and then realize I was half an hour early. I would have the shuttles leave half an hour before the start of the ceremony, so people will still have 15 minutes of leeway for anything that comes up in terms of traffic, or using the bathroom when the arrive, and getting seats, and all that. 

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• crackktheskyy member

  

  September 2014

  MandyMost said:

  I think it's a bit much to expect your guests to wait at the ceremony site for 30 minutes minimum for the ceremony to start. Personally, I would be seriously annoyed to get to the ceremony site and then realize I was half an hour early. I would have the shuttles leave half an hour before the start of the ceremony, so people will still have 15 minutes of leeway for anything that comes up in terms of traffic, or using the bathroom when the arrive, and getting seats, and all that. 

  Yeah this is what I'm most concerned about! I'm just trying my best to provide transportation and accommodate all of our guests to the best of my abilities. It seems that everyone is used to waiting for differing amounts of time at ceremony locations so I'm trying to be as sensitive as possible about that. 

  
  

  I suppose I can't make absolutely everyone happy, at the same time, and for anyone that is unhappy with whatever time we choose, there are other means of transportation to the ceremony, as well.

  

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• syoun1nj member

  

  September 2014

  OP, can you have some bottled water or something available before the ceremony for folks arriving early? Will they able to drop off their gifts somewhere, use the restroom? These are things I usually do before a ceremony (since I'm early/on time to a fault) if I can. At my wedding, there was a bar at the venue (not hosted, it was a golf club with a bar in it - our reception was full open bar!) so some people went there to grab a drink, dropped off gifts, looked around, mingled in the AC before grabbing seats. I think most people begin taking seats 10-15 minutes before the ceremony start so personally I don't think 30 minutes early is insane.
  

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• crackktheskyy member

  

  September 2014

  syoun1nj said:

  OP, can you have some bottled water or something available before the ceremony for folks arriving early? Will they able to drop off their gifts somewhere, use the restroom? These are things I usually do before a ceremony (since I'm early/on time to a fault) if I can. At my wedding, there was a bar at the venue (not hosted, it was a golf club with a bar in it - our reception was full open bar!) so some people went there to grab a drink, dropped off gifts, looked around, mingled in the AC before grabbing seats. I think most people begin taking seats 10-15 minutes before the ceremony start so personally I don't think 30 minutes early is insane.
  

  This is a great idea, but the ceremony is in a church and the reception is in a different venue. The shuttles are transporting guests immediately after the ceremony from the church to the reception so they won't have anywhere to drop off gifts until they arrive at the reception space. 

  
  

  I'm not sure if we will be able to hand out bottled water or anything because it's an old historic church (but it still has AC, don't worry!) and they might have some policies against food and beverage. I will have to check. At the hotel, the welcome bags will have bottled water and snacks so hopefully that will help a bit.

  
  

  We are also doing a full open bar at our reception venue, and guests will be greeted with champagne and signature cocktails as they arrive, which should hopefully give them something refreshing to sip on after the ceremony and alleviate a rush to the bar once the doors open.

  

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• syoun1nj member

  

  September 2014

  Makes sense. When I attend church weddings, I usually just hang with friends outside the church (or inside, weather depending) and file in accordingly when time appropriate. Everything sounds very nice, I wouldn't stress about them being 30 minutes early. To me that's when I'd arrive driving myself anyway. I can see how others might be annoyed but I figure that's the "price" to pay for free transportation!
  

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• MandyMost member

  

  September 2014

  If I arrive early for a ceremony, it's because I"m concerned about getting there on time and I don't want to be late. If the organizers are arranging transportation, I assume I will arrive early enough to get there and get to my seat without feeling super rushed. Anything more than a couple minutes after that and I'm going to be seriously annoyed at why the wedding is running so late. If I was to find out later that the wedding was NOT running late and they just wanted me to be there 30 minutes early I would be seriously pissed off. It's rude to plan for your guests to sit around for 30 minutes with nothing to do. Seriously, 30 minutes is a really, really, REALLY long time to sit quietly in a church. I would be sooooo bored and uncomfortable by the time your ceremony started I wouldn't enjoy it and would be seriously itching to leave. 

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• crackktheskyy member

  

  September 2014

  syoun1nj said:

  Makes sense. When I attend church weddings, I usually just hang with friends outside the church (or inside, weather depending) and file in accordingly when time appropriate. Everything sounds very nice, I wouldn't stress about them being 30 minutes early. To me that's when I'd arrive driving myself anyway. I can see how others might be annoyed but I figure that's the "price" to pay for free transportation!
  

  Yeah, I'm always way early, too! It's why I figured I'd ask on here. I always have a horrible fear of showing up late to the church!

  
  

  MandyMost said:

  If I arrive early for a ceremony, it's because I"m concerned about getting there on time and I don't want to be late. If the organizers are arranging transportation, I assume I will arrive early enough to get there and get to my seat without feeling super rushed. Anything more than a couple minutes after that and I'm going to be seriously annoyed at why the wedding is running so late. If I was to find out later that the wedding was NOT running late and they just wanted me to be there 30 minutes early I would be seriously pissed off. It's rude to plan for your guests to sit around for 30 minutes with nothing to do. Seriously, 30 minutes is a really, really, REALLY long time to sit quietly in a church. I would be sooooo bored and uncomfortable by the time your ceremony started I wouldn't enjoy it and would be seriously itching to leave. 

  Wow, I'm glad I asked on here! I didn't realize it would be so rude or that anyone would have such strong feelings, so I'm glad I checked, especially because 30 minutes before the start time is the norm for me! I definitely won't be deceiving guests about start time or anything like that. The time on the invitation is the time I'm walking down the aisle so there should be no confusion about the wedding running late.

  
  

  It looks like I'll have to rearrange and maybe have the trolley arrive and start boarding 20-30 minutes before the start time of the ceremony. That should hopefully get everyone there with a few minutes to get seated comfortably. I'm staying at the same hotel so I'll have to see if I can sneak out the back door so that not everyone sees me when I leave, too!

  
  

  @martha1818 : It's good to hear a second opinion on this, thanks! The ceremony start time will definitely be clear on the invitation and on the wedding website, which will also list the departure time from the hotel! Hopefully this should clear everything upl.

  

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• lashack member

  

  September 2014

  I recently went to a wedding where they provided shuttles. They had 2 shuttles as well but instead of them both leaving at the same time they had one leave 30 minutes early and then the second one hung around and took people 15 minutes early. So people who like to be very early could and people who like to be there just on time could. It was communicated very well informing people what the schedule was for the day on both their wedding website and in the welcome bags. 

  
  

  
  

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