Weddingbee

My FI’s parents are paying for the hotel and transportation for all of his family coming in from out of town (Boston and California - approx head count of 30). Our guests will be spending a lot on plane tickets and wedding gifts so Mr. Apple’s parents thought it would be a nice gesture to pay for their hotel stay.

We’re having difficulty getting the best price for pick up and drop off to and from the airport. Our options are:

1) Blue Super Shuttle to and from the aiport for our guests - approximate price of $540 for one way fare

2) Limo service (haven’t researched this yet but thinking it would be prohibitively expensive)

3) Have family and friends pick them up at the airport (Don’t want to impose on our family and friends)

We will also be providing transportation to and from the hotel to my house and the reception venue via two 15 seater vans from Capps Van Rental. Our transportation costs will be about $500 for two vans for two days which includes liability and damage insurance.

Does anyone know of less expensive shuttle services/transportation options to and from the airport?

The week before the wedding I definitely had a few stressful moments and reactions, but they weren’t too outrageous (I think!). When it came to the big day, I was as cool as a cucumber, as my Mom would say. Everyone, including myself, was shocked by how relaxed I seemed. I really thought that nerves would get the best of me because I really hate being the center of attention, but everything seemed under control.

That is until we got in the limo. After already being 15 minutes late to pick us up, the driver asked me about the best way to get to Dumbo. I told him not to take Flatbush, he agreed, and the next thing I knew, we were on Flatbush! Jeez! Then he circled around on one way streets for a good 15 minutes. During this circling time I finally said “SIR! Do you know where you are going?!” Everyone in the car fell silent for a second until my friend Maggie looked at everyone, shrugged, and said “At least she called him sir.” And with that, Bridezilla had returned to a happy, smiling bride.

I think everyone has that one moment of being a Bridezilla on their wedding day, but how many of you can say it was captured on film?

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We have a wedding party of 5 guys and 5 girls, plus our parents (4 total) and us. Most of our wedding party individuals also have dates. Something we’re having a hard time figuring out is, 1) who goes in the limo 2) how to work out driving arrangements for those not in the limo 3) Who goes in the limo prior to the wedding ceremony 4) what about the dates?!

Thanks!!!

Turtle

I’ve been in limo limbo now for months. Mr. Spider had a problem with how the wedding party will get home, and I had a problem with us sitting in the same limo en route to getting married. So what happened? Well, we got over it. The wedding party will just have to carpool or ask their dates to drive. And Mr. Spider and I will just have to sit at opposite ends of the limo. Maybe we’ll blindfold him, could be kinda cool haha.

The drive from our hotel to the reception hall takes less than half an hour. Since we are going straight from Point A to Point B, we need the limo, at most, an hour. Try telling that to the limo companies who try to sell you fancy frou-frou packages the moment you mention the word “wedding”. It’s like their pupils turn into dollar signs. Of course I can’t actually see them through the phone, but I can hear them. Yeah, it makes a loud ass “CHA-CHING” sound.

So I’ve been trying to skirt the fact that yes, we will be needing these limos for a wedding, but it’s kinda hard to avoid it when Point A is a hotel and Point B is a reception hall. No, I’m not gonna have them drop us off at the corner. Nor am I gonna try to pretend to be guests trying to show up at a wedding in style. Imagine the driver pulls up and is like “No, this can’t be the right party. My boss didn’t say nothing about a bride.”

So what do you do? Well, you bang your fist on the table real loud and say listen, I just need your stinking limo for one hour. No one will be drinking your champagne at 9am, no one will be needing any special carpets, red or otherwise, and no one will care if your driver shows up wearing bermuda shorts and flip flops. Well okay, if the driver shows up wearing flip flops, he better not have hairy toes cuz that’s a definite deal breaker.

All my fist banging and hairless toe requesting has gotten me down to two vendors:

Serenity Limousines (recommended by brides on the LIWeddings forum)

18 Passenger Hummer SUV: $425 for one hour

Royal Luxury Limousines (recommended by users of Limos.com)

20 Passenger Escalade SUV: $400 for one hour

Now the final dilemma, which actually is two-fold:

Am I naive to think one hour will be enough? I know brides complain about limos being late all the time, but consider that my pick up time is 9am. If 3-hour minimum “wedding” packages are only $2-300 more, should I just get them in case some crackhead bridesmaid really does want to drink champagne at 9am in the morning?