Everything You Need to Know About Wedding Transportation

This is where grand exits, getaway cars, and after-party plans come in/

For this part, your options usually look like:

1.) Car service
Some couples like keeping a car service through the end of the night, especially if they want a very clean, planned exit.

2.) Uber or Lyft
Again you need to have someone book for you.

Also... keep in mind that since this isn't a hired car service or your personal car.

You don’t have that extra time to be loading things slowly or running back inside for stuff.

Once the car shows up, the window to leave is pretty small.

So anything you’re taking with you - your overnight bag, shoes, gifts, little decor pieces, anything like that ...needs to be packed and ready before you call the ride.

3.) Driving yourselves or having wedding party drive you.

This is such an easy option...there's no much panic here.

Just make sure that whoever is driving isn't drinking and they know the route to your home or hotel.

But other than that ...it's a chill option.

Using shuttles or buses for guest transportation is the most structured options you can choose ...but it’s also the one that needs the most planning.

There’s really no winging this one.

The very first thing you have to figure out is ...where exactly is this shuttle taking people?

• Is it picking your guests up from their hotel, Airbnb, or home and taking them to the ceremony?

• Or is it moving them from the ceremony to the reception? (if they're in different locations)

• Or finally is it taking your guests from the reception back to their hotel or home later on?

You need to be clear on this because it affects how many hours you’ll be paying for.

Alot car service or shuttle companies charge by time or by trip, so if you don’t know exactly what you’re hiring them for, it’s very easy to underbook or overpay.

So knowing this will help you know how many hours you’re paying for and what to tell the transportation company upfront.

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The next big question is ...how many guests are actually using the shuttle?

• Is it everyone?

• Is it only out-of-town guests?

• Is it 30 people, 40 people, or just a small group?

There are a few ways to figure this out.

You can include it in your RSVP and ask guests if they plan to use the shuttle.

You can also look through your guest list, identify who’s coming from out of town, and reach out to them directly.

However you decide to do it, just make sure you have a number.

It would determine the size of the bus, how many buses you need, and what information to give to the shuttle company when they start asking questions.

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Once those two things are clear… where the shuttle is going and how many guests are using it… then planning becomes way easier.

Now let’s talk about the different shuttle scenarios.

We’ll focus on the first two for now and leave reception-to-home transportation for later.

Starting with transportation from your get-ready location to the ceremony.

This is honestly the more complicated one.

And its cos your guests are coming from different places.

Even if you choose one pickup location, people still have to get themselves there on time ...and let’s be real, people will people.

Someone will be late.

Someone will misjudge traffic.

Someone will say “I’ll be there in five minutes” and mean fifteen.

That unpredictability is the biggest challenge with this setup.

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Now let's say you already know how many guests are using the shuttle.

Maybe it’s 60 guests.

But the bus you hired only fits 40 people. That'd automatically mean they’re going to be going in batches...especially if it's just one bus

So the first batch has to leave way earlier.

And this is something you absolutely need to communicate to your guests.

Cos they need to know that showing up “just on time” won’t work here.

People in that first batch have to arrive at the pickup location early enough for the bus to leave, deal with traffic, drop them off at the ceremony site, and then come back to pick up the second batch

...all before the ceremony actually starts, or at least before it’s too far in.

Now, moving on to ceremony to reception transportation.

I'm assuming here that your ceremony and reception are in different location.

This part is still much easier to manage than the get-ready situation.

Cos now everyone is already in the same place ..so you’re no longer dealing with guests coming from different homes or hotels at different times.

You’ll still be going in batches if the bus can’t fit everyone at once.

The first batch leaves, gets dropped at the reception location, and then the bus comes back for the second batch.

If you want to reduce delays, one option is hiring two buses so both batches can leave around the same time.

This is where you really need to talk through pricing with your transportation company ...are you paying by the number of hours, the number of trips, or the number of buses?

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Finally, transportation from wedding reception back to the hotel or guests' home.

The thing you need you to keep about this is that ...not everyone leaves at the same time.

Which is obvious now i've written it but its something you need to plan for.

So usually, you’ll have a group of guests who leave right after all the formal reception moments are done.

So once the cake cutting, speeches, and all the official stuff wraps up, maybe around 7-ish, they’re ready to go.

This is usually older guests, guests with kids, or people who just don’t plan to stay for the dancing and partying.

For this group, you’ll want a shuttle that can pick them up around that time and take them back to wherever they’re staying ...hotel, Airbnb, or home.

Then you’ll have another group that leaves a bit later.

Maybe around 9-ish, once the party has started but before it gets too late.

These guests don’t want to stay until the very end, but they also don’t want to leave super early.

Your shuttle can come back, pick up this group, drop them off, and then return again to pick the last group of guests who will stay tiil the party ends.

Breaking it up like this lets guests leave at different times without anyone feeling rushed or stranded.

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Now if you know that most of your guests are staying until the party ends, whether that’s midnight, 1 am., or even later ...then you need to plan for that final big pickup.

So let’s say you’re transporting 70 guests total.

Maybe 20 leave earlier in the night, but you still have 50 people left at the end.

If your bus only fits 30 people, you now have a problem.

Cos those remaining 20 guests are not going to be happy standing around at 2 a.m. waiting for a shuttle to drop off the first group and come back.

That’s when having more than one shuttle makes sense.

Two buses leaving at the same time means everyone gets home quickly and without frustration.

Especially cos late at night people are tired and just want to be done.