Wedding Blog
There are some things that really got the short end of the stick budget-wise, like transportation. Up until a month ago we really hadn’t given much thought to transportation. Early on we kicked around the idea of getting an old model-T Ford to drive us around. But the model-T search wasn’t the easiest task, and a limo was WAY too expensive for us, so we pictured ourselves driving off in Momma Sunbeam’s Prius and went on with the planning. Then one day it hit me: what about a school bus??
We’re high school sweethearts, so we could definitely chalk it up to a nostalgia thing, and chances were that it would be cheap.
I emailed our high school, who directed me to a transportation director in our area, who gave me the info for the Student Transportation of America organization for western PA. A few rounds of phone tag later, and I was in! The total cost for a bus and driver that will drive us around for photos, take us to the reception, and await our call to take us to our respective hotels is $125. If your jaw is dropping, you’re having the same reaction that I did. Now I am on the hunt for inspiring bus photos!
Hey Cherry Pie! (source)
My original car decoration plan was the ever popular Martha Stewart pom idea. I bet some version of this could still work for a car. God willing, I will have time to make extra after I’m done with all the poms for our reception!
Anyone else using a school bus for their wedding day transportation?? What will you be driving around in?
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Cute!!!! I LOVE IT!!! And you can’t beat that price with a stick!
Great idea, and so cheap! Transportation is very low on my priority list as well.
We had one regular size school bus to transport guests and one”mini - bus” that transported the wedding party. It made for some great pictures and everyone loved it!
I love the idea of a big yellow school bus. Good solution and the price can’t be beat!
So cute for you two, since you are hs sweethearts and all 
Will you be attaching poms to the back of the bus? Or maybe hanging them from the ceiling inside?
I think I would have really not liked the idea of a school bus but those pictures are adorable
Especially for HS sweethearts!
We have considered contacting some car clubs to see if we can get someone in a nice GTO to transport us. FH has a GTO that he loves, but it’s currently in pieces awaiting it’s overhaul. Love the bus idea Fun photos for sure!!
@MountainBride: I guess I didn’t say but I did book us a short bus! hehe. I love how stubby they are.
@Miss Bruschetta: I don’t have it planned out yet, but if we stick with a short but we could probably decorate it similar to the car pic. I love the idea of having some poms inside! Good call!
cute pics!! cant beat the price. just don’t sit in gum!
that is such a cool idea… especially since you are high school sweethearts! that’s just so awesome!
so great! I love the play on the HS sweetheart -school bus thing! What a better way to head off as husband and wife!
so fun!!!! our ceremony and reception are in the same place…but otherwise i’d definitely steal this idea =)
Love this idea, especially since you are high school sweethearts! Cherry Pie’s school bus shots were nothing short of fantastic.
Have you thought about playing around with some schooltime props for your photo shoot? I’m thinking old-school wooden rulers, red apples and a mini chalkboard with a cute message like “we do.”
I’m a school teacher, so I totally plan on going for this affordable route! I’d also like to use it for guest transportation to and from the hotel and reception!
Here is one I found.
http://www.fineprints.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/09torontowedding5.jpg
This is such a neat idea! Do you by any chance have a picture of the two of you on/ in front of a bus when you were in high school? Like from a field trip or anything? It would be cute to take a picture in the same pose on your wedding! Just an idea! Mr. Longhorn and I actually rode the same bus when we were in elementary school, but since we were three years apart, we never sat together!
that’s awesome! i might have to steal the idea to transport our guests from hotel to ceremony site to reception site and, finally, back to hotel site. can’t wait to see your pics!!
Because parking on the farm is so limited we’ll be using a school bus to shuttle guests from the hotel to the wedding site. $100 for two hours INCLUDING a driver! I was so happy! Any idea what a good tip would be? This is new territory for me. We’ll be renting a regular passenger van to take people home.
My fiance works for the local transportation company, so I’m pretty sure we’ll be using a bus - they have both school buses and coaches, so I guess we’ll just see what they’ll give us for a nice, free price (ok I’m totally hoping for free but I will settle for deeply discounted!).
What a great idea! We are definitely looking to arrange transportation for our guests two and from a “main” hotel to our venue (where we’ll have both the ceremony and the reception) and this could be fun *and* inexpensive!
That’s so cute!! We’ve been thinking about doing this because our wedding is out in the country so it’ll take about 15 min to get there, then 15 to get back into town and the reception is on the other side of town so it’ll be about another 10 minutes to get there. I want something the whole bridal party/parents, etc can go in at least so we’re getting everywhere at the same time. I haven’t thought about guests yet, we might be leaving their transportation for them to deal with.
Yup! We’re doing that too! The cost of two school buses to chauffeur all our guests round trip from hotel to wedding (30 miles apart) was STILL less than 1 coach or trolley. I’m also a former elementary teacher, so it seemed a propos.
I’m stumped right now on the transportation thing. One of my relatives owns a limo company, so we’re getting an H3 limo for the wedding party and a smaller limo for parents/grandparents/etc. But I think we’re only going to be able to afford to have the limos for transportation from the ceremony to reception, so I have to figure out something else for after the reception. Ugh.
My girlfriend did this and we had the best time on the bus. Definitely the way to go, props to you for doing it!
We used a school bus (ours was lime green) to drive us around to pictures and to take us to the ceremony location - it was perfect! Something to consider is that most school buses are not air conditioned. Our wedding was in March so it wasn’t a big deal - but I imagine they get pretty steamy in the summer months!
My jaw is still dropped! That is a great price! and will lead to SUPER cute pictures
That’s going to be super cute! If I were getting married in our current town, we would have chartered one of UGA’s buses to be our transportation, being that we both work and met at Campus Transit!
@miss longhorn: That would be so cool but no sadly we don’t have any bus pics together.
Isn’t the price amazing!? I’m pretty sure we get the driver as long as we need. And to have him on call to pick us up afterwards - crazy good! Definitely consider a school bus!
a bus would be so nostalgic and a whole lot of fun i hadn’t considered it. we will be taking a trolley around town, it’s an sb staple.
I want a school bus too! Partly because I’m a teacher, and partly because of the estimates I’ve gotten back about a limo bus. Yikes $900 for 3 hours. UGH!
Wow-you’ll get some great pics ala Cherry Pie (at a great price)! Transportation made its way up on our priority list. We kept saying (for everything!), if not now, when? So instead of renting a limo (it’s not prom after all), we rented a Porsche 911 convertible. It really didn’t cost much more than a limo. It made for some great photos, & we had the time of our lives cruising around. (We had a large gap btwn ceremony & reception, so we gave people rides around.) Plus through some snafu, we had it Friday night, all day Saturday & most of Sunday.
I love love love the bus idea! I wish we will need transportation like that, I still have no idea what/how or even if we are going to have transportation
We are putting off dealing with transportation until we see if we can afford a bus but since there will be many out of towners and the reception is an hours drive from the ceremony, I think it may be necessary. My Uncle is providing our transportation via his antique convertible VW Beetle. If I oculd find a bus for under $200, I would have booked it already, I recal estimates of $400 per hour. Maybe I’ll have to try starting at the high school and see where they send me.
Ah! The school bus is a great idea. I got hooked up with a friend of a friend who got us a coach bus. I thought it was just “ehh” until my mom mentioned that with 2 preggers bridesmaids, having a bathroom on the bus is the best decision I made!
Oh my goodness I love how it ties in with the fact that you were HS sweethearts! And the PRICE?!?! Oh my gosh I think my jaw seriously dropped.
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Mrs. Sunbeam, San Francisco/Grove City, PA
Age and Occupation: 26, Grad Student & Office Manager
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Motion Designer
Engagement Date: May 10, 2008
Wedding Date: September 2009
Venue: Harbison Chapel & The Maple Lane Farm
About Me: Mr. Sunbeam and I are high school sweethearts. We both come from a small town in PA but are growing to love the California lifestyle. He loves wine and I love cheese... the perfect combination! When I'm not drooling over wedding blogs, I'm attending grad school, out being a foodie, or attempting to "walk" our cat at the park. Two things guaranteed to excite me are wedding cakes and breaking out my suitcase to travel. Mr. Sunbeam and I are personalizing our hometown wedding to celebrate our high school sweetheart status and PA roots with a few CA touches. After ten years of dating we couldn't be more excited to call each other husband and wife!
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