Weddingbee Blog

Even though our venue is only about an hour from Baltimore and DC, it’s essentially an out of town event for everyone involved. No one coming to our wedding actually lives on Kent Island, which probably means that a fair number of people will be staying in the area hotels, at least for Saturday night. And while the hotels are only about 10 minutes from the venue, word on the street is that the island’s cops really love sitting at the on-ramp to the highway and nabbing people leaving wedding receptions (there are a couple of other venues nearby too), who have a pretty high likelihood of having had a drink or two before driving home from the party. Now, I know that the MD government needs more money, but I’d rather not supplement it with DUI tickets.

(source)

We do NOT want our guests drinking and driving. Obviously.

So to assist folks in having a fun time while still staying safe, I’m trying to arrange for a shuttle to make the rounds between the hotels and the venue before the ceremony, then make the same rounds dropping people off after the reception. I’m planning for something along the lines of this minibus:

(source)

While mini-coaches are not the classiest vehicles ever to exist, the Limo Buses were way out of our price range and the cute school bus options (though slightly cheaper) had a chance of not being air conditioned, which was a big negative. Not that May is scorching hot here, but I’m trying to help our guests have fun, not make them a hot sticky mess! Plus, Mama Guinea Pig said no to school buses.

My problem is that people will be spread out across 4 hotels - and while they are all within about 3 minutes of each other, and within 10 minutes of the venue, one round would probably take more than 30 minutes if you take into account people actually getting on the bus (which of course, I did not take into account when originally planning this - you mean people don’t just magically appear on the bus instantaneously? They actually require time to walk up the steps and find a seat?).

Our ceremony starts at 6 PM, but guests can’t really arrive before 5 MP. If we want to make two rounds of the shuttle service to pick up a total of 64 people (the minibus can hold about 32 people), we’d have to drop the first round off at 5:15 PM, which is a long time to hang out and wait at a venue, right? And even then, the second round would get dropped off right before the ceremony starts. But, I’m afraid that only doing one round will lead to this:

(cramming as many people in as possible, source)

Mr. Guinea Pig is convinced that people will not use the shuttle, and would prefer to drive themselves to the venue, and thus thinks that one round will suffice. I think that I would like to encourage people to take the shuttle so they can relax and have fun at the reception without drinking and driving!

So hive, help the Guinea Pigs decide this argument! Would you take a shuttle if it was offered from your hotel to the venue (if the venue is only 10 minutes away)? Would you care about getting to the venue 45 minutes before the ceremony starts? Did you provide any transportation for your guests?