Groups & Occasions
Wedding Guest Shuttle
Forty guests do not arrive together by accident. They arrive together because somebody ran a shuttle.
When you need one
Roughly above fifteen guests moving together.
Below that, individual cars work and feel more personal. Above it, individual cars mean guests arriving across forty minutes, several of them at the wrong venue, and somebody from the wedding party directing traffic in their good clothes.
A shuttle is a timetable. Guests are told a time and a place, and the vehicle does the loop.
How it runs
Before the ceremony. Pickups from the hotels on a stated schedule — usually two or three runs, timed so the last one arrives with twenty minutes to spare rather than exactly on time.
Ceremony to reception, if they are in different places. This is the leg where a shuttle earns its keep, because it happens all at once and nobody wants to drive.
Home. Staged through the evening. An early run around ten for guests with children or early flights, then later ones. The last run goes when the reception genuinely ends, not when a schedule says it should.
What we need
The venues and their addresses. The hotels your guests are in, and roughly how many at each. The ceremony time, and what time you want everyone seated.
From that we come back with a timetable you can put in the invitation or on a card — the actual times, not "a shuttle will be provided".
The things that catch people out
Guests are slower than you plan for. A run scheduled to leave at four leaves at four past. We build that in; it is why the last run is timed to arrive early.
The bridge. The Simpson Bay bridge opens on a schedule and closes the road while it does. On a wedding day that is not a delay you can absorb, so it is planned around rather than discovered.
Two venues are harder than one. If the ceremony and reception are apart, that is the leg to spend the most planning on.
Rain. It rains here in short heavy bursts. A shuttle that drops at the door matters far more on a wet afternoon than a dry one, and it is worth thinking about where the door actually is.
Our limits, honestly
One nine-seat van of our own, driven by us. A shuttle is by definition more than that, so for anything above about twenty guests we bring in drivers we know personally — and we tell you who they are rather than quietly subcontract your wedding.
What that means for the timetable: our van does a loop of nine at a time. Twenty-five guests from one hotel is three runs and about an hour, which is fine when the schedule has room and poor when it does not. If your ceremony time cannot absorb that, you need more vehicles than we own, and we would rather build that in from the start than discover it on the day.
For a very large party we may simply be the wrong firm, and we would rather say so early than take the booking and let you find out.
See wedding transportation for arrivals, the ceremony itself and departures.
Questions people actually ask
How does a shuttle differ from booking cars?
A shuttle runs to a timetable rather than to individual bookings. Guests are told a time and a place, the vehicle does the loop, and nobody is arranging anything personally. For more than about fifteen people it is far less work for everyone.
How many runs will we need?
It depends on the vehicle and the spread of hotels. A nine-seat van doing a twenty-minute loop moves about twenty-five people an hour comfortably. We will work it out from your headcount and venues rather than guess.
What about guests leaving at different times?
Staged returns. Usually one run around ten for the guests with children and early flights, and later ones after that. Trying to move everyone home at once at midnight is how a good reception ends badly.
Do guests pay?
Normally the couple covers it and we invoice once. Guests being asked for money as they get out of a shuttle is not the note anyone wants to end on.
Also worth reading
Checked and updated 4 September 2026.