Transport for Guests

We don't have many guests but considered a coach hire to get guests from our church to the reception venue. We're booking taxis instead as we won't need a lot of spaces though.

We're paying though. I think you should either pay for it or leave guests to sort out their own transport, think it would seem a bit awkward asking them to pay for their own seats.

Yeah i thought so too,

im just worried all 100 guests will want a seat, i will have to get 2 coaches and wear a bin liner lol

I agree. If you're providing transport then you pay. Otherwise it's down to them then they have a choice of how they do it. 20 minutes away isn't far. People will make their own arrangements.

I can't imagine them all wanting a seat, some of even our evening guests are taking their cars. Usually get some people wanting to drive for convenience or just staying sober etc.

If it's a huge expense i'm sure guests won't mind making their own way along, I've went between venues on my own before it's not unusual, i'm all for people paying for guests travel etc but only if it's within budget

True, 20 mins isn't far at all and wouldn't even cost people much on taxis if you can't get the coach hire

We are hiring a coach as we are 45 mins away from people and paying for it. But most people will probably stay over at the hotel and pay for their own room. I agree 20 mins isn't too far and a taxi wouldn't cost much for those who want more flexibility with the timing of when they leave.

Could you have one coach and say a coach is available on a first come first served basis with set pick up and leaving times? The worst thing would be to pay for two coaches and on the day people decide to leave early so only one coach is full.

When we looked at venues further from the church, we were intending to put a small card in the invitations that basically said we'd appreciate it if those who were able to make their own transport arrangements did, but that we didn't want people to miss out due to transport issues (our church and venue are both very remote!) and please let us know if they're having difficulty, and we'd have organised lifts/minibus/taxi's for those that needed it. That way you wouldn't have to worry about people taking advantage, but those genuinely in need wouldn't miss out

Maybe you could do a deal with the local taxi service, so that families etc. can be dropped off at their door and get a discount. Perhaps giving them a ring and giving them a rough estimate of how many people will be needing a taxi and the company might say 'OK, 20% off all fares', then forward that to your guests or have a small notice somewhere in the venue, and they will know then, to book with that company. It's a win-win! (I hope)! Your guests will be expecting to make their own arrangements, and being only a 20 min ride I bet plenty of them are considering a taxi anyway, so a discount is a bonus to them, and you wont have to fork out loads of dosh That's our plan anyhow HTH

Are you thinking a coach to take people to the wedding or home or both?

Is your ceremony and reception all in one place? If it's all in one and approx 20 min jojourney for everyone, I wouldn't bother with coaches. People are fine with taxis or driving themselves.

We're getting married in a church and then it's about 15/20mins from there to reception. I'm putting on coaches to get people from church to reception, but they can sort themselves out to church & home. Main reason is because I dont want people paying 3 taxi journeys and waiting for taxis to get everyone to reception and I want people to have a good drink and not worry about driving home.

It's costing us 195 & thats for 2 coaches to get between the 2 venues and a minibus to get OH and his family to the church, so you might be suprised, but I got a lot of expensive quotes too.

I'm putting on my info sheet that we will put on transport and please advise if you want to use it so we can get an idea of numbers

I dont think people expect you to put transport on.

Similarly to lots of the ladies above, I'd say that you don't need to worry about how people get to your wedding, or how they get home from it, but if there is a change of venue half way through (ie. between ceremony and reception), I really think that the marrying couple should organise transport. It's not your guests' fault that there are two separate venues, and as said above, they may already be paying for two cabs if they fancy a celebratory tipple or two. There may be a lot of people stressing about costs, and timing of transports etc when they shouldn't have to. Plus, if they aren't familiar with the area, this would be an added worry to some....

In my case, just about all of our guests are coming from far away, and are staying in a hotel where we arranged a good discount package. We are asking everyone to park at the hotel, and are laying on two coaches to bring everyone to the wedding venue, where the whole shabang is taking place on one site. We are then taking all 100 people back to the hotel by coach at the end of the night. This way they can all relax, no one has to worry about getting around, and no...we are not asking for contributions to the coaches. We feel that we should take on the responsibility for the cost as it's technically our 'fault' that people need transportation, and the poor folk are already graciously paying for hotel rooms just to be there with us for the day.

This.

If you're going to do it, do it right. I think your guests will appreciate this much more than 1 extra free drink, or a wedding favour, so maybe save a bit of cash on something like that if you need to cut costs in order to pay for the coaches?

Thank you everyone, I thought it would be a bit awkward to ask as well, I think I will put something in the invite saying there will be a coach but first come first served sort of thing so need to know numbers, might also prompt quicker rsvps lol

We are putting on a bus from a travel lodge to our venue , which is 13 miles, then back again at the end of the night (everything is in the same place). Its quite a big percentage of our budget at £400 however we feel lots of people will be travelling very far having to pay for flights, two nights in a hotel and taxis from the airport so we wanted to help people out a bit. I would feel weird asking people to pay for it even if its only £10 a head! The coach company has let us reserve the largest coach available (51 seats) which is more than enough for all the guests that would potentially need a seat but he has said that depending on availability we can get a smaller coach if not enough people want the bus.