Day of the wedding transportation…it’s probably not on the top of your list of glamorous wedding details to think of, but it is oh so important. I’ll start out with a cautionary tale. My husband was the best man in his good friend’s wedding a couple of years ago. They thought they had all their transportation details worked out. Until, that is, they woke up in their honeymoon suite the morning after the wedding, only to realize that had no way to get to their morning after brunch.
Thankfully, they are a very laid back couple and they simply called my husband who was more than happy to perform one last best man duty and deliver the newly married couple to the brunch. But how easily this could have been avoided.
Transportation is not one of those details that needs to be hashed out as soon as you are engaged, but putting it off until the day before the wedding will most certainly cause undue stress. Regardless of whether you are hiring a limo or asking a friend to play chauffer, you will need to work these details out so be prepared. The keys to coordinating successful transportation will be: good planning and clear communication. Usually about 4 weeks or so before the wedding, you should have a good idea of the plans for the day. Then it’s time to put the puzzle together. Depending on if you are a visual person or a word oriented person, sketch out a basic timeline or a flow chart for the day. Your goal is to make sure that everyone is where they need to be when they need to be there with the least amount of complications…ie stranded and or lost participants.
First, think about who needs to be transported. Are you going to getting married in a remote area with little parking, then maybe hiring busses or trolleys to carry all the guests is your best idea. Maybe just the couple needs to be transported. If you are hiring transportation, keep in mind that chaufferred town cars are often less expensive than full sized limos, pick up and drop off service is much cheaper then having the chauffer wait around during the ceremony and reception, and a friend or family member with a nice car might shuttle you around for even less…free!
Let’s look at an example. We have a bride and a groom with single gender wedding parties. Our couple is getting married at a church and then having the reception in a hotel ballroom. One way to coordinate this day would be to have the wedding party meet at the hotel to get ready. The groom drives himself, and someone gives the bride a ride. A limo is hired to transport the bride and bridesmaids to the reception. This is not to be sexiest (exactly) but dresses wrinkle more easily and will insure a less wrinkly wedding party. The men drive themselves and the best man gives the groom a ride.
After the ceremony, the couple is transported to the reception in the limo (which offers some precious moments of alone time) and the groomsmen give the bridesmaids rides to the reception. Now everyone has their own vehicles and can transport themselves. Since the groom drive himself the couple have their car at the hotel for them to use the next day.
This is by far not the only way to do it, but you see how it works. The key however, is that everyone knows what they need to do. For instance our scenario is going to break down if the groomsmen don’t know to wait for the bridesmaids or visa versa. As in marriage and life in general good planning and clear communication is a must!
For a DIY wedding, it might be a little more complicated. In our situation, we were not allowed into the facility until 1 hour before start time. That meant that all of the decorations had to be transported that day. We decided that the easiest way to do this was to enlist my bridesmaids to help transport. So, everyone met at my house, fully dressed, we loaded up the cars (well, they did because my friends ROCK!) and we caravanned to the facility. This worked out beautifully, and I highly recommend the caravanning because it cuts down on people getting lost. Because if the person with the table clothes gets lost, there’s not much setting up you can do until they get there!
So, bottom line….
1. Think it though…all the way through to the next day.
2. Make sure everyone is clear on how they are getting from one place to the next and if they are giving anyone a ride. This can easily be included in the wedding day timeline that is distributed to people at the rehearsal or earlier. Also note that this may be something that your planner will do, but again clearly communicate so that there are no surprises.
3. If a big poofy dress is involved, make sure that the bride is transported in a vehicle large enough to accommodate.
I’ll leave you with a funny thought. When planning our transportation, I first thought of my brother driving me to the facility since he was walking me down the isle and designated as the bridal escort. But then I remembered that he has five point racing seats and that probably wasn’t going to work with my dress and veil! Thankfully I remembered in time to make other arrangements. It would have been pretty funny to see me arrive in this!
Have a lovely day everyone! And remember… when planning the transportation, as in life and marriage, good planning and clear communication are key!
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