Providing Transportation a Must?

You are under no obligation to provide rides, but its a nice touch. If its something you want to do, talk to your vendor and ask if they have a company they use for this. Sometimes they will have less expensive options then you could find yourself.

WE thought about having our limo rented for four hours then take us then go back for anyone who needs a ride.

I think it would be a nice touch. You can have taxi vans to transport your guests- or at least arrange for them. The hotel should have some sort of shuttle available. It may cost you.

Do you HAVE to provide transportation, no. But if your guests are flying in, and staying in a hotel- it would be nice to save them the additional expense of a rental car.

We are providing a shuttle. Our venue is about 3 miles from the hotel and we just felt better knowing that our guests have a safe ride home. My mom did suggest as an alternative before finding the shuttle that we could get any 16-20 year old cousins/ relatives to provide shuttle service, hehe. I have a few unfortunate cousins that will be mere months away from the big 21 at the wedding. Do you have relatives you could farm out as designated drivers if needed? Are there taxis available in the area?

You can also rent a van for like enterprise and have like Samantha said a 20 year old cousin drive. Or you can call limo companies and check the prices. I am going to rent a school bus (its white) and have it for 9 hrs. The hotel I booked is far for the wedding venue but its close to the airport/ bus station. So instead of having my guest pay about a 50 dollar cab ride from the airport or bus station to the city where the wedding is, I booked close to where their transportation will take them and provide a shuttle to the city where the wedding is. 80-90% of my guests are OOT so I wanted them to save as much money as possible.

I don't think we will be having them. most OOT family that is coming in will either be driving up or will want a car there anyways because they will be doing sight seeing.

Its one of those things that if we happen to come up under budget we may find something, but we aren't planning for it.

My hotel and venue are 5 miles apart and we are providing a shuttle. I have very strong feelings on drinking and driving due to a personal experience (which was not my fault, I was walking). It was very important to me to provide transportation for my guests. You might think oh, it's only 3 or 5 miles, but if you're drunk a lot can happen in 5 miles. I would hate for something to happen to anyone either a guest or another innocent driver because someone left MY wedding where alcohol was provided and decided to drive. I feel like I am making the responsible decision for people. If they choose not to use it, that's on them, but I will sleep better knowing that I did the right thing.

Yea Tiffany I totally agree so I think I will do it even I pay for it separately from our budget wedding amount.

We had a awful family experience with drinking and driving. I don't want to worry about it.

I think I'll look to see what they have in my area. How does that work though, my guests will need to be at the ceremony at 5 but then everything won't be over till 11. You have to rent usually in minimum 3 hours right? I'll have to do some research.

@ Tracy- I called transportation/shuttle/limo companies and reserved a 12 passenger van. It was a 2 hour minimum so I reserved it for 2 hours before the ceremony and 2 hours after the reception. The van was no where near as expensive as a limo. I'm not sure of pricing in your area but I paid $175 for each set of 2 hours for a total of $350, that also includes tax and tip.

My ceremony also starts at 5 but I'm thinking that I will make the last shuttle at 4:45 so the van won't pull up with a bunch of people as I'm starting to walk.

Near the end of the reception I will start the shuttle again at about 9:45-10p, it's over at 10:30 and should be long enough to pick up any stragglers.

I don't think its a must but it would be nice, specially if you have people coming from far away that aren't driving there. Unless there is a good cab service like in the city, where getting a cab would not take forever.

It's a nice gesture, if it's not in your budget, as least provide phone numbers for cabs. We opted to hire a couple who does Designated driving. Earlier in the evening, one of them would drive your vehicle to your house/hotel and the other would follow. That way you had your vehicle in the morning. Later in the night it was just rides to your hotel, your vehicle was left there. If you knew we were going to party longer, you could have them take it to your house earlier in the evening and bring you back to the party. Cost us just over $600 from 10pm till 2/3 am

IT will be costly! If you have extra money go ahead- but I suggest that if its that close people can carpool and or walk depending on how far it is. I only got a shuttle because my ceremony/reception is on an out of the way mountain top and the road is super windy with no lights or siderails on it and I know if someone drives drunk they will most likely fall off the mountain. (its not a huge mountain but big enough!) All the places I called required 3 hours and it has to be continuous- so i ended up getting 3 hours before and 3 hours after ceremomy with a 14 passanger van that will make however many trips needed for about 600 dollars. Originally the hotel had a free shuttle but they changed management on us and no longer provide it. I already promised my guests as well so i had to last minute find a shuttle- i think so far that was the most stressful for me.

Thanks everyone for the advice!