You’ve found the venue. It’s a barn in the Surrey Hills, or a manor house in Oxfordshire, or a walled garden an hour up the M40, and it looks nothing like London. That’s the point. The catch is that most of the people you love still live in the city, and somebody has to work out how eighty of them get there by two o’clock and home again after midnight.
Guest transport is the part of wedding planning that tends to be left until the last month. It’s worth doing earlier, because it shapes the timings of the whole day. Here’s how to plan it.
Start with where your guests will be
Before you look at vehicles, look at your guest list. Sort people into three rough groups: those travelling from London on the day, those staying near the venue, and those making their own way. One question on the RSVP does the job: “Would you use transport from London if we arranged it?”
The answers tell you how many seats you need and where the pick-up should be. If most of your London guests live south of the river, a pick-up near Clapham Junction makes more sense than one at King’s Cross. If a block of guests is staying at one hotel near the venue, that hotel becomes a second pick-up point.
Keep pick-up points to one or two
Every extra stop adds time and gives someone another chance to be late. One central pick-up that’s easy to reach by public transport, with somewhere a coach can pull in safely, beats four that each suit a handful of people. Ask your coach company which locations work for a large vehicle before you announce anything.
Choose somewhere with shelter and a coffee shop nearby. Some guests will arrive forty minutes early, and some will arrive with thirty seconds to spare.
Work backwards from the ceremony
Fix the ceremony time, then count back. Allow for the journey itself, a margin for traffic, and at least half an hour at the other end for guests to find the loos, a drink and their seats. Then add ten minutes at the pick-up for the people who are always late.
If the answer is a departure time that feels too early, that’s useful to know now, while you can still move the ceremony by half an hour. Put the departure time on the invitation or wedding website, and say plainly that the coach will leave on time.
Ask the venue about access before you book
This is the step couples miss. Plenty of country venues sit at the end of narrow lanes, over small bridges or behind gateposts that were built for carriages. A full-size coach needs room to get in, turn round and wait.
Ask the venue three things: can a coach reach the door, where can it drop off and park, and have other couples used coaches here before? Pass the answers to your coach company along with the venue’s postcode. If a large coach can’t get all the way in, you need to know early, so you can plan a drop-off at the gate, a short walk or a smaller coach.
Decide how the evening ends
The journey home matters more than the journey there. Guests relax when they know exactly how they’re getting back, and nobody has to stay off the champagne in order to drive.
One return run at the end of the night is the simplest option. The drawback is that guests with babysitters, early flights or elderly relatives are stuck until the last song. If your numbers need two coaches anyway, think about sending one back earlier and one at the end. Raise the late finish when you first enquire, because the time of the last run affects what an operator can offer.
Whatever you choose, check the alternatives too: the time of the last train from the nearest station, and whether local taxis can be booked in advance for the evening. Share both with your guests so that no one feels trapped.
Work out how many seats you need
Count the guests who said yes to transport, then add a few for the ones who change their minds. Coaches come in set sizes, so you’re matching your number to the vehicles an operator runs. City Circle, for example, has 36-seat and 53-seat coaches, so 80 guests would mean one of each.
If your number falls just over one coach, ask a handful of guests whether they’d rather drive before you book a second vehicle for six people.
What to ask a coach company
- Have you taken wedding parties to venues like ours?
- What’s included in the quote?
- What’s on board? On a journey of an hour or more, a toilet makes a real difference.
- How late can the return journey leave?
- Who do we call on the day if something changes?
If your guests are starting in London, City Circle’s private coach hire is one place to ask for a quote. The company has more than twenty years’ experience in private coach hire, with branches in West London and Edinburgh. Its 36- and 53-seat coaches have reclining seats, climate control, USB charging points and on-board toilets, and its reservations team advises on routes, timings and stops.
Tell guests the plan, twice
Put the pick-up point, departure time and return times on your wedding website as soon as they’re confirmed, and send a reminder the week before. Include a postcode or map pin for the pick-up, and a phone number for someone who isn’t getting married that day.
On the day itself, give one person the passenger list and the coach company’s contact number. An usher, a sibling or your planner will do. Their only job is to count heads and make the call if someone is missing.
A simple timeline
- When you book the venue: ask about coach access.
- With the invitations: ask who wants transport.
- Once the RSVPs are in: confirm numbers, pick-up points and times with the coach company.
- A week before: send guests the final details.
Done well, the coach becomes part of the day. Guests who have never met get talking somewhere around the M25; everyone arrives together, and at the end of the night the only thing anyone has to find is their seat.
