How Do I Book Wedding Transportation and What Do I Need to Know?
You, you wedding party and your guests need to get from Point A to Point B, possibly to point C and then back again.
You might want to shuttle your guests to and from the wedding. Maybe you want a trolley for your wedding party. Or a limo just for yourself. In this day and age, you can pretty much rent whatever you want. Cars, limos, shuttles, party buses, horse drawn carriages, segways, town cars, you name it – you can rent it.
But if your wedding falls during prom or graduation season, be sure to book well in advance!
Here’s what you need to figure out:
1. How many groups of people need to be transported?
- Guests from hotel to ceremony
- Guests from ceremony to reception
- Guests reception to hotel
- Bridal party to ceremony
- Wedding party to reception
- Getaway car
2. How many people need to be transported? You need to figure out who needs to go where. And be careful of overcrowding limos with big poofy dresses. It can get sweaty, stuffy and uncomfortable.
3. Timelines. You might want to actually do a test drive and see how long it takes to get from your starting point to where you want to go. Bank on the fact that some people will be late or slow. Someone forgot her phone. There might be traffic. It’s always good to add in that buffer, and then some.
Questions to Ask
- How old is your fleet?
- How many people does each type of vehicle accommodate and for what price (if not available online)?
- How long has your driver been with the company? And make sure they are licensed and insured (obviously).
- Do you have more than one type of vehicle (i.e. shuttles, party buses and limos)? Is there a discount for booking multiple vehicles?
- Does each driver have a GPS or a map? Will he/she have studied the directions prior to the day of the event?
- What are the minimum hour requirements? Does it make more sense for the cars to wait or to have a pickup/drop off service?
- Do you have any wedding packages?
- Are there any amenities provided in your vehicles?
- A plug for an ipod?
- Champagne/water/ice?
- Air conditioning?
- What will the chauffer wear?
- Is gratuity included in price?
- Are there extras?
Contract tips
- Exact type/model and number of vehicles to be rented
- Detailed schedule: Pickup and drop off times and locations, especially important when the cars are doing loops
- Be sure you coordinate with your various venues on pickup/drop off and parking protocol, especially if they are waiting for the duration of the ceremony and reception
- Name and contact information of each driver
- Any additional amenities supplied in vehicle
Want a list of questions on the go? Download and print out our free wedding planning cheat-sheet for a comprehensive list of questions to ask your wedding vendors.
