Transportation - Is it necessary?

If your ceremony and reception are at the same location, and most of your guests are local I don't see why you would need transportation.

I'm getting a party bus for the bridal party because we have three- four different stops and I wanted to make sure we'll all be together.

We aren't doing transportation. Our ceremony site and reception site are less than .5 a mile from each other and the reception site shares a parking lot with a hotel.

I've never been to a wedding where the couple provided transportation.

It's optional. I've been to weddings that offer shuttles between the hotel and venue (or between the hotel, ceremony, reception, then back to the hotel). I think offering some kind of shuttle makes sense when you have a lot of OOT guests who may have flown in and not gotten rental cars. Another nice thing about offering transportation is that it means you'll have less guests driving after drinking at your reception or that guests won't have to worry about having a DD or sobering up before the end of the reception.

Figuring out transportation can also mean making sure that you and your FS have a plan for how you are each getting to the venue (separately? Together?) and how you two are planning to leave the reception.

IMO adults can transport themselves, me and FH included. We ARE hiring a towncar for my elderly grandma who can't drive anymore, but that's it.

View Quoted Comment I think my coordinator was referring mostly to BP transport, IE party bus or something.
Most of our guests are local so will most likely not be using the hotel, and we don't need to worry about drinking and driving because (brace yourselves - UO here) its a dry wedding.
I just think its too much of a hassle and unnecessary expense because we aren't doing a first look, so the guys wouldn't be using it half the time (from hotel to church) because they're getting ready at the church, and then they would have to go back at some point to get their vehicles after the reception

Definitely optional. I wanted to provide it for our OOT guests and FH’s family said we didn’t need to do that

If you are in an area where it is offered, you can do UberXL so BP can ride all together, but if there is no hotel block you wouldn't need to provide to guests. I would strongly strongly encourage you to revisit offering alcohol at your wedding. What is your reason for not offering it?

View Quoted Comment Ahhh I feel like I knew that and knew your reasons were legit.

Then yes, sounds like you just need to think through how you, DH, and the WP are getting to the church, the venue, making sure no one will end up at the reception venue without a ride back to their cars. For one wedding I was in, this involved my friend (who was also a BM) giving me a ride in her car since I was in from OOT, but when we got to the bride's parents' house that morning, they asked if we could take care of taking the getaway car to the church. I think I drove it and my friend followed me, and then she drove us back to the house. I'd just say to think of that stuff before the day of (which is what the checklist and your planner is trying to do). My friend and I thought we were going over to get ready with the bride, have breakfast, and have a couple hours to do our hair, makeup, and paint our nails. Turns out the bride's parents knew the two of us a lot better than some of the other BMs and were comfortable assigning us with tasks that morning at the last minute. We did it, but man I wish we had actually had time to do our hair or that I had realized I ought to have done it before going over to the getting ready spot.

I wouldn't say it is necessary but it can be useful depending on your venue's location and your guests.

I'm doing a shuttle option for my out-of-town guests because the venue outside from the city and the streets are not well-lit. However, my bridal party and the rest of my guests will be driving themselves.

I'm going to schedule an Uberblack to take myself & FH to our first look location & then to the venue. There's no way I'm going to be driving in my wedding dress & dealing with the anxiety of traffic & trying to find parking on a Saturday by the beach. It'll be under $100 and well worth not having to stress. Our hotel has a free shuttle for any guests, and there is a parking structure with valet at our venue that we are hosting for guests.

For my friends bridal party we all drove ourselves individually. From the church to the reception. Some carpooled. I don't think you need to provide transportation. They can uber also

We hired a '47 Packard to drive the bridal party and me from the hotel (where we got ready) to the church. Then after the ceremony, the bridal party drove back with their SO or car pooled (pre-arranged ahead of time) and my DH and I drove back to the hotel for our reception in the Packard.

Nah. If your guests are old enough to drink then they are old enough to drink responsibly

If you don't want to deal with it, don't. I've been to plenty of weddings where everyone drives themselves. Totally up to you.