Weddingbee

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Not only do most venues charge for parking, but they charge outrageously. Originally we were asked to pay $10 for each car, and we negotiated down to $5. In the end, if we estimate 180 to come, and we’ll guesstimate 90-100 cars, that’s a whopping $450 - $500 just for cars.

Now I do realize that it’s valet parking and there is probably some public parking in the near vicinity of the venue, but I want our guests to be able to pull up, hop out of their car and come right on up to the reception. If the hotels can pay for their own events to have their guests have free parking, why can’t they waive this fee for their client who is about to drop a decent chunk of change for one night?

How did you all handle the parking for your weddings?
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We’ve allotted for about 40 minutes between the ceremony and reception, which will give people time to walk back to their cars, drive to the reception site, park again (most will probably want to run up to the room to freshen up, etc) and then make their way to the tent and find their seats. So we first discussed renting an antique car and just taking a little drive around town in those 40 minutes, stopping along the way for a few photo ops. But the car was hard to find in the immediate area and we didn’t want to pay travel expenses for someone to come from Chicago or Milwaukee. There was a brief conversation about other cars (read: Mr. Sundae could taste a James Bond fantasy car within his reach) but then there was a stroke of genius…we’re on a lake, why not a boat? Hello, Lorelei:

Meet our getaway boat. She’s going to pick us up on the pier just steps away from the ceremony and drop us off at The Abbey Harbor (our reception site). Since we’re only going to be taking a short cruise, Gage Marine was nice enough to waive the alternate docking fee and actually listed two bottles of chilled champagne on our contract. I like anyone who gives me a discount and offers champagne.

Since the antique cars we researched had one hour minimums, the difference in cost between the boat and a car really wasn’t that much. Crazy to spend a couple hundred dollars on a 30 minute boat ride? Maybe. But I think the pictures and the memory of it all will be well worth it.

How are you getting from your ceremony to the reception?
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(image from Rob Robson)

Thank you so much for your help, Miss Gingerbread.YOU ROCK!

(image source)

How 1950’s can you get? We are SO PUMPED!!

The car’s owner, Rob, is also very excited by the thought of his car being in a 1950’s - style wedding, and told us we could decorate “Walter” however we wanted! Woot! Woot!

What is your wedding transportation?
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If the weather cooperates (although today’s forecast says showers), we’ll head out with the roof down.

Image found here.

What is your getaway car? (And if you want to use a PT Cruiser, and happen to live in Australia, you can actually rent a PT Cruiser for your wedding here.)

*My apologies to Nelly
**My limo experience was permanently scarred by a rather unfortunate prom experience, where we had a padiddle limo, and the stereo didn’t work, the air conditioning didn’t work, it smelled a bit like cigarette smoke, and the windows would roll down but not up. In it were myself and 4 friends, along with our dates. 2 of the dates ended up putting their heads out the window and barking like a dog at passing cars.
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We think this is an awesome idea for a few reasons:

• Our out-of-town guests (um, everyone?) can relax instead of worrying about driving directions and dirt roads
• It means that everyone flying or taking the train can completely abstain from renting a car if they want because there is transportation provided from the airport/train station (for a fee) and inside the park (for free)
• All of our guests can drink and dance and drink and dance without driving themselves into a ditch on the way back to their hotel!
• Having a shuttle will cut down on our emissions and prevent too much wear and tear of local roads

At first, I imagined shuttling our guests to and fro in some of Glacier Park’s classic renovated “red jammer” buses.

But our wedding coordinator, Katalin, had worked with them before and found them to be prohibitively expensive. I was disappointed, but I’d guessed as much based on the fact that there are a limited of red jammers and taking a regular tour on one is quite pricey.

Instead, Katalin found us two shuttle bus companies near Polebridge (Kalispell and Columbia Falls, respectively) with affordable rates. They were fairly comparable, and each offered regular old-school school buses in addition to the fancy-schmancier charter buses. The school buses are definitely more cost effective, but they don’t offer the amenities (air conditioning, bathrooms, video monitors, etc.) of charters.

I don’t think that we really need the charter buses for the 20-mile trek from Glacier to Polebridge, but having the option for AC might be nice if the weather is warm. And honestly, I really love the school bus look. Maybe I’m just a huge dork, but aren’t they cheerful and nostalgic? Not really rustic OR elegant… but a nice bit of classic Americana, right?

Our plan is to have the bus drive into West Glacier, pick up guests at the Lake McDonald Lodge, head to the Apgar hotel (which is on the way) and continue to Polebridge. We’re thinking of starting the ceremony at 3 or 4 pm and making sure our guests get there at least half an hour beforehand so they’ll have time to mill about, socialize, and find their seats. After dinner and dancing, we’ll have another shuttle waiting to take guests back to their hotels.

We’ve budgeted for two buses, which we’ll reserve if enough people RSVP for the shuttle. Regardless, we’ll probably have two staggered shuttles to return guests to their hotels so that the elders and party poopers can get back to their early bedtimes while the rest of us can stay until “last call” or have a bit of an after party at the saloon.

I’m hoping that offering a shuttle will make life easier for our guests. But we also want to make the shuttle ride (about a half hour to forty minutes) fun and interesting. Any tips on how we could do that? Or should we even bother?

If you were a guest at our wedding, would you want to ride a round-trip shuttle? Would it matter if it were a school bus or a charter bus?

( Image source: 1, 2 )
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Last week I talked to Kris over at Cable Car Charters (they’ll be providing us with our wedding-day transportation). I asked him if the trolleys can drive down Lombard Street. After all, how awesome would it be to have a photo of four trolley cars, all decorated, going down Lombard? Sadly, it ain’t gonna happen. Turns out, no tour vehicles are allowed anywhere in Russian Hill. Sad. Here’s how awesome it could have been:

Yet another hackjob from Photoshop! Original photo here, and trolley here.

Oh well, I’m over it. San Francisco has plenty of amazing places to take photos. I’ve been thinking about the Palace of Fine Arts ever since we came up with the idea of a trolley tour. Everyone gets their wedding pics taken there for a reason. It’s gorgeous!

Photo from here.

And when I talked to Kris, he suggested the windmill at Golden Gate Park:

Photo from here.

Which also got me thinking about the many amazing places in Golden Gate Park, like the BUFFALO (did you know that? There are buffalo in Golden Gate Park!)! Or the Conservatory of Flowers! Or the Japanese Tea Garden!

Photo from here.

He also suggested Fort Point (for good pictures in front of the Golden Gate Bridge), the Legion of Honor (gorgeous) or Alamo Square (where the Painted Ladies, aka “the Full House Houses” are). There are so many awesome places to go!

No matter what, those trolleys are going to be decorated. I’m going to make one sign myself, but I was thinking about having the bridesmaids come over a couple of nights before the wedding for a little pizza party/trolley sign decorating party. We would have three to make, and I bet we’d have a great time making them beautiful or heinous, whichever we’re in the mood for (I suggested the groomsmen, too, but Mr. Cream Puff didn’t think they’d want to participate).

I’m so excited!
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However the more time passed and the more I thought about it logically, especially with the location change from city to country, the more I realized it would be better to rent something like this:

The ever-glamorous panel van.

Because we’re throwing the wedding ourselves at a family property, we’re also supplying our own liquor. Keeping our budget in mind, this is good because it saves us money and allows us to have an open bar, but we also wanted to be super careful that, while people had a nice time, they did not overindulge and then get behind the wheel.

So with the safety of our guests in mind, we are currently trying to make arrangements to have a shuttle go to and from the local hotel our guests will be staying at (we’re getting married at a fairly remote spot out in the country so most people will be hoteling it) so that people can go car free, hang around a bit later and enjoy a few drinks.

Would it have been cool to ride in a vintage car? Sure. But is it cool to get to spend a little more time with our out of town guests and for them to get home safely? Definitely, because five extra minutes with my best friend from out west is worth more to me than a fifteen minute ride in a car by myself.

What can I say? Plans were made to be changed, and as far as deviations from original plans go, I think this is a pretty good one.

What about you, ladies? How are your plans different now that you’re farther along in your wedding prep? What have you changed/decided you don’t need?

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