Transportation for guests - planning tips/advice

Personally I would have transportation from each hotel that you have room blocks for. On your RSVP's you could add a part that asks guests if they will be using the provided hotel transportation. This way you can let the hotel know how many people to expect.

You should be able to coordinate shuttle time with your hotels (if they offer shuttle services). You could have a shuttle leave the hotel at one time, make the drop off and then come back and get the other group and take them, making it a 30-40 minute difference on arrivals - depending on the hotel they are coming from. I would also do two shuttle times back to the hotel. By doing this, you would cut back on the number of people on the shuttle. This would also benefit those who may be older and/or those who may not want to stay for the entire reception.

Providing transportation for guests is definitely very thoughtful! Have you talked with anyone from the hotel to see if they are able to provide any shuttle service between the hotel and venue? If you have already found a company you are planning to go with, instead of renting for pick up/drop off before and after the wedding (and paying for 5+ hours of "service") you could consider making two separate reservations with the company 1. 1 hour block for pick up/drop off before ceremony and 2. 1 hour block back to the hotels? Personally, we did not do transportation and had our guests either drive themselves (many out of town but either drove to the location or rented a car) and everyone else was pretty well versed in how to get an uber. Another thing you could consider is setting up X numbers of ubers to be at a location at a certain time for guests - I've heard this is becoming more popular!

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Thank you Kaysey! Unfortunately, the hotels don't provide a shuttle services so I am in the process of talking to bus/shuttle companies. It is just so expensive! But I do think it is necessary for everyone to have fun and not worry about transportation. I am having a hard time gauging how many people would need transportation. Any other suggestions on how to know ahead of time before invites go out? I am going to put a question on our RSVPs about needing shuttles. However, I don't want to wait until then to book shuttles/bus, as it seems that it is important to hire someone early so I don't run into not having options closer to the wedding. Would you agree?

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I agree. It would be best to have it booked early. I know you have a lot of out-of-town guests, but is there any way to contact them prior to sending out your invites and see if they would use shuttle services if they were provided? I'm not sure if it's proper etiquette to do that before sending out invites or not, but if you don't care about that, it might be an option.

We provided transportation for all our guests. On our RSVPs, we had a box they could check if they wanted to use it (around 100 people wanted to out of 125). The bus left from our main hotel block (about 10 minutes from our other block) so people just ubered there or drove then hopped on the bus. We had two 55 person buses.

Another option is to use Uber/Lyft event codes. We have two hotel blocks (and some people that might be renting from airbnb etc), and that is what we are doing. You pay a certain amount for a certain number of rides. The code is valid for either drop off or pick up at the venue address, so no matter where they are staying the code will work in both ways. You only pay for how ever many rides are used, so if people drive on their own we don't lose out at all. Of course this depends on Uber/Lyft availability in your venue area. When we asked one of the hotels about a shuttle they said they used to have one but they got rid of it because people started using Uber instead. So we know there will be plenty of drivers around.

I booked one shuttle per hotel and an extra just in case. I put an option to rsvp for the shuttle with my invites, info on my website, and the transportation company took my deposit but didn’t charge me for unused vehicles as long as I let them know by my rsvp date what I needed. It seemed fool proof. And then most of our guests who would fly in declined, and the ones who signed up for the shuttle didn’t use it and just drove themselves anyway. So there was $1000 down the drain...

View Quoted Comment Thanks for the suggestion Paula! I get nervous about Uber in the area. It’s a bit remote. The owner of the venue indicated that people can use Uber, but they should be calling for a ride at least 20 min out. I guess it would be diff being in a city. I live in Chicago and it takes just a few min, so I’m not used to having that issue. Do you think that might be an issue for everyone?

View Quoted Comment Oh wow! So it really seems better to book closer to the wedding. Who knows? Planning is so hard! I would hate to spend that much money and people not use it.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for the info!!! How far out did you book the shuttles?

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We "booked" 6 months out but didn't finalize our order until 1 month out when we had RSVP's back.

View Quoted Comment Super helpful. I’m about 8 months out. So I guess I may have a lot of time. Thanks!

View Quoted Comment Yes, worth possibly doing. Thanks!