It's getting close to the wedding day, so who's responsible for the wedding transportation? Well, this question can be answered in a number of ways. First of all, which part of the wedding will transportation be needed? Traditionally, the bridal party limousine transportation is often the responsibility of the bride's dad and the best man. Don't forget transportation for the bride and groom after the wedding. And most importantly (and often overlooked) transportation for the bride and groom after the reception.
As a standard rule...
1. The father of the bride makes transportation arrangements to the wedding and to the reception.
2. The best man makes transportation arrangement from the reception to get the couple to their honeymoon suite.
However, the father and best man should work together to get all transportation logistics synchronized.
Consider the following...
1. You will need transportation for the bridal party to the wedding.
2. You will need transportation for the bride and her father and/or mother to the wedding.
3. You will need transportation for the bride and groom after the wedding to the reception.
4. You will need transportation for the bride and groom after the reception to their honeymoon suite.
5. You may need shuttle transportation for some of the wedding guests as well.
We offer unique chauffeur driven vintage and classic automobiles, such as the very rare and stylish Excalibur, Rolls Royce, Essex and Jaguar for weddings, anniversaries, proms, birthdays and other transportation needs and enjoyment.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Best Wedding Discounts
Too often, the first thing a couple will do after announcing their engagement is to set a wedding date. If you set your wedding date without doing the necessary research, "you will pay too much"! If you have an unlimited budget (like Prince William), then by all means, GO FOR IT. However, if you are like most young couples, you are definitely on a budget. So, before you set that date, do your homework. Here are some things to remember...
1. A Saturday wedding is the most expensive, so if you MUST pick a Saturday, try an early spring (March/April) or late fall wedding (November/December) wedding. You will get the best price on everything during this period.
2. There is absolutely nothing wrong with getting married the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving. You may already be the host of the family gathering anyway. This could save family members travel costs since they are already in town anyway. And the price for EVERYTHING will be DISCOUNTED!
3. If you must have that May/June wedding, consider Friday evening (7pm - 11pm) and consider having your wedding and reception at the same venue. You will get a great deal on MOST services.
4. Sunday weddings are always good if you are not getting married in church. Often churches will not allow weddings on Sundays as they interfere with Sunday service. If you can plan your wedding after Sunday church service, it may work out. Otherwise consider another wedding venue.
5. Find an experienced Wedding Planner that has lots of connections with different wedding services. A GOOD wedding planner can get you great discounts on just about EVERYTHING! Calculate the possible savings your wedding planner can provide. They should be 20% or greater.
6. Finally, DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR DISCOUNTS or special consideration based on time. Often a different start-time or end-time can change the pricing without affecting the wedding experience.
1. A Saturday wedding is the most expensive, so if you MUST pick a Saturday, try an early spring (March/April) or late fall wedding (November/December) wedding. You will get the best price on everything during this period.
2. There is absolutely nothing wrong with getting married the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving. You may already be the host of the family gathering anyway. This could save family members travel costs since they are already in town anyway. And the price for EVERYTHING will be DISCOUNTED!
3. If you must have that May/June wedding, consider Friday evening (7pm - 11pm) and consider having your wedding and reception at the same venue. You will get a great deal on MOST services.
4. Sunday weddings are always good if you are not getting married in church. Often churches will not allow weddings on Sundays as they interfere with Sunday service. If you can plan your wedding after Sunday church service, it may work out. Otherwise consider another wedding venue.
5. Find an experienced Wedding Planner that has lots of connections with different wedding services. A GOOD wedding planner can get you great discounts on just about EVERYTHING! Calculate the possible savings your wedding planner can provide. They should be 20% or greater.
6. Finally, DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR DISCOUNTS or special consideration based on time. Often a different start-time or end-time can change the pricing without affecting the wedding experience.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Wedding Transportation By the Mile?
Wedding Transportation By the Mile? - As a limousine service, we get a fair amount of calls from brides and grooms regarding the need for "Just a quick pickup and a short drive to their wedding/reception venues". Of course this is their way of saying, "I don't have a lot to spend on transportation". Although many limousine companies will vary from their 4 hours minimum on specific cases, many couples just want "an hour worth". You can't buy one hour worth of limousine service. It often takes longer than that to make the trip to/from the pickup location.
We conduct about 300 weddings per year and it's the largest part of our business, so we know how long it will take to complete the entire process without running out of time. Therefore, we have price several packages to accommodate the "frugal" bride and groom. So I am still amazed when I hear "It's only a short distance". It's not about the distance. It's about the huge wait-times, waiting on the bridal party at the hotel for 30 minutes and waiting on the photographer for 45 minutes. On average, a limousine spends two hours waiting and one hour transporting and one hour traveling to/from the Limousine Company garages. This is why there is a four hours minimum.
Case Study: Mary has twelve people in her bridal party. Her wedding is at 2pm, so Mary wants to make sure everyone is at the church on time, so she requested a 12:30pm pickup from the hotel. The limousine time started when it left the garage at 12:00pm. Everyone is at the church by 1pm. The ceremony started at 2pm and lasted ½ hour. Afterward lots of wedding photos are taken, which take ½ hour inside and 15 minutes outside the church. It is now 3:15pm and the bridal party is headed for the reception site, which is ½ hour away. With loading and unload, the bridal party arrives at the reception venue at 4pm. The limousine heads back to the garage and arrives at 4:30pm. The entire process takes 3.5 hours to complete. This assumes everything is on schedule. Mary has ½ hour of additional time she didn’t use. Anything less than four hours and Mary is paying a premium for over-time.
What If… The limousine had to make two trips (one of the guys and one for the ladies)?
What If… The photographer had trouble getting everyone in place and took longer for pictures?
What If… There was a traffic delay getting to one of the venues?
If a couple can streamline the above Case Study into three hours, then most limousine companies are flexible. Anything less and they are just fooling themselves and will end up with sub-standard quality, being pushed and paying a premium for extra hours.
We conduct about 300 weddings per year and it's the largest part of our business, so we know how long it will take to complete the entire process without running out of time. Therefore, we have price several packages to accommodate the "frugal" bride and groom. So I am still amazed when I hear "It's only a short distance". It's not about the distance. It's about the huge wait-times, waiting on the bridal party at the hotel for 30 minutes and waiting on the photographer for 45 minutes. On average, a limousine spends two hours waiting and one hour transporting and one hour traveling to/from the Limousine Company garages. This is why there is a four hours minimum.
Case Study: Mary has twelve people in her bridal party. Her wedding is at 2pm, so Mary wants to make sure everyone is at the church on time, so she requested a 12:30pm pickup from the hotel. The limousine time started when it left the garage at 12:00pm. Everyone is at the church by 1pm. The ceremony started at 2pm and lasted ½ hour. Afterward lots of wedding photos are taken, which take ½ hour inside and 15 minutes outside the church. It is now 3:15pm and the bridal party is headed for the reception site, which is ½ hour away. With loading and unload, the bridal party arrives at the reception venue at 4pm. The limousine heads back to the garage and arrives at 4:30pm. The entire process takes 3.5 hours to complete. This assumes everything is on schedule. Mary has ½ hour of additional time she didn’t use. Anything less than four hours and Mary is paying a premium for over-time.
What If… The limousine had to make two trips (one of the guys and one for the ladies)?
What If… The photographer had trouble getting everyone in place and took longer for pictures?
What If… There was a traffic delay getting to one of the venues?
If a couple can streamline the above Case Study into three hours, then most limousine companies are flexible. Anything less and they are just fooling themselves and will end up with sub-standard quality, being pushed and paying a premium for extra hours.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)