Transportation for Guests

I am in the same boat as you, and we are not doing transportation because it is not in the budget. When I travel, I either make transportation arrangements with friends or rent a car.

Talk with your hotel. I made sure our hotel choice had a shuttle for our guests. I don’t think most people coming in from out of town will rent a car, that seems like a lot to ask. It’s already expensive to travel, I think it would be nice if you and your fiancé figured out a transportation solution. Also if you’re asking everyone to drive to and from, that’s going to limit how much people drink and how long they stay so keep in mind you’re potentially taking away from the party atmosphere at your reception.
If you haven’t picked a hotel for your guests yet, even better. Transportation to and from was one of my deciding points in a hotel. We got a free shuttle to and from the hotel and venue as many times as my guests need with a minimum of 17 rooms (we will hit that no problem, otherwise it’s $100). If you have a lot of out of town guests your hotel should be offering you incentives to book with them. A shuttle should be one of them.

If you live in a city with Uber and Lyft I don’t think having transportation is necessary. We did because we had the budget for it but if you don’t it’s not the end of the world.

I think transportation is nice to have but not a must unless your venue is an hour away from any reasonable hotel or off the beaten path or in a dangerous area.

We had over 60 guests from out of state, and basically all our guests from out of town. We had 85 people in our main hotel block, so we paid for two 55 person buses ($1,150 round trip) for a 30 minute drive to and from the venue. Our venue was in a super rural area so lyft or uber wasn't an option.

If you have Uber/Lyft in your area I do not think that transportation is totally necessary - yes, it's nice but it's not necessary.

We are providing 2x hours of shuttle services (with the hotel shuttle service) - 1x hour before the ceremony & 1x hour after.