Transportation and Parking for Guests

The important thing is that you have made choices that mean your guests are not required to drive after drinking at the reception. There are many, many weddings where guests have to park in more than one parking lot. The driver can always drop off the other passengers then go park the car.

That’s a tough one. As someone planning a wedding right now, I would also be worried about this. But as a guest, I would expect parking to be tricky and plan accordingly. Rarely have I been to a church with a great parking lot.

Where is your reception compared to the church and hotel? I know I don’t like to have my car at wedding receptions if I’ll be drinking at all, so I would plan on either going back to the hotel after ceremony or getting an uber or whatever transportation all day. Just some things to think about...

The reception is at the hotel where people are staying. The distance between the church and hotel/reception is less than 10 minutes.

It's certainly not a requirement at all but, if it's in your budget and something you want to do, a shuttle might be a nice option. Since the reception is at the hotel, it only has to make one trip to the church and one back to the hotel so it shouldn't be super pricey. I personally would choose that over paying for everyone's Uber with a code because there won't be surprise fees. There are people who would plan to drive to the reception originally but would then choose to take Uber simply because it's paid for by someone else and that will give you surprise costs. With a shuttle, you'll know upfront what you're paying. Again, it's not a requirement and people can figure it out and park on the street if needed so don't stress about it if it's out of budget.

It's really nice that you're thinking of booking a shuttle for your guests, but I don't think it's necessary. It looks like everyone at the reception will have the option of staying on site after the reception, so I think you're covered. If I were a guest, I would already have it in my mind to just plan for parking to be limited. I've had to park on the street for church weddings, it wasn't a big deal. I also have never heard of/been to a wedding where the bride and groom provided transport to and from church/venue, it's normal to have some minor travel so I wouldn't worry about it!

If you can afford the shuttle, I think that's a super nice option. We are renting a shuttle to get our guests from the hotel to the venue, it's a 30 minute drive each way.

Given how close everything is to each other and the fact that there is parking around the church (just perhaps not in the lot), I personally wouldn't worry about a larger shuttle. People drive themselves to / from events all the time and manage to figure it out and park just fine.

My hotel block had the same size shuttle as yours (seated 12 people and i had 60 staying there). I didn't want guests having to vie for a spot on that shuttle or planning to ride it and then not be able to get on it (and end up not knowing their plan B and getting to the ceremony late) so I just didn't do the small hotel shuttle at all. My guests will get themselves from the hotel to the ceremony/reception and back on their own (like a 10 minute drive).