Hiring a Limo for the Wedding

I am really not sure why, of all things, the next thing I started thinking about was the limo.  Maybe it was because I noticed it’s one of the few hard copy folders I have that I didn’t also research online.  So I decided to fix that.

I have mixed feelings about the whole limo thing.  On the one hand, I didn’t have one for my prom, and always regretted it.  I think the only time I rode in a limo in my life was when I was a child and it was for a funeral.  So if I don’t ride in a limo on my wedding day, then when will I?

On the other hand, I didn’t understand the logistics.  I don’t want Adam and I to see each other the morning before the wedding.  So which one of us gets to ride in the limo to go to the venue?  And then the driver does what?  Sits there and waits 5 hours while we have the ceremony and photos and reception and then Adam and I have to leave at a certain time even if we’re enjoying ourselves and want to stay longer?  In my head, I thought it was going to have to go something like this:

Plan A

I sleep over mom’s.  I leave my car there.  She takes me to get my hair and makeup done.

The limo picks up Adam at the condo because he slept there overnight and brings him to the vacation house.

Mom brings me to my condo in her car.  My sister meets us there at the condo in her car.

My brother drives to the vacation house where the driver has just dropped Adam.  The limo driver brings my brother to pick my mom, sister and me up.  And my whole family goes together to the vacation house. That way my brother’s car stays at the vacation house.  Mom and my sister’s cars are at my condo.  My car is still at mom’s. 

After the reception, the limo brings Adam and I to Boston (after the mini-moon we take the train to mom’s so she can pick us up from the train station and I’ll drive us home.  This is a better parking solution than the last time we took the train to Boston from my house).

My brother drives my mom and sister to my condo for their cars.  Although one of them might want to go back to spend the night with Adam’s family for transportation to the airport the next day.  There’s plenty of bedrooms for that, unless they just want to drive home and back in the morning.

That…seems slightly convoluted just to make sure Adam and everyone in my family gets a ride in the limo that morning.  I mean, Adam could sleep at the vacation house overnight, and my brother could just drive from his house to the reception site and skip the limo ride entirely to make it easier, but then even fewer people get to enjoy it, and I'm paying for a full day of it just sitting there.

So I found an article online here that explained what “the done thing” is, which got me thinking about what I really want.  It’s easier to break the rules once you know the rules are.  And it seems the reason people hire limos for their wedding day is because they need to get from the ceremony site to the reception site.

Ohhhhhhhhh.

Yeah, see, I’m planning on ours being in the same spot.  Now I get why that makes sense for the masses but not for our small wedding.  So I definitely need to break the mold here. Because it should really be about me and Adam on that day; I want us both to ride the limo TOGETHER.  And we’re only going to need transportation together at the end.

That’s it!

Plan B

That’s what I really want.  A limo for AFTER the reception, that can bring us straight to the hotel in Boston for our mini-moon!  Pick us up, drop us off, be able to enjoy every minute that we’re paying for that limo and not have the driver waiting around.  How could it take me so long to get to such a simple solution?! 

So what that means is I’ll be enlisting my family to drive us there.  That’s okay, I think.  Honestly, they all have nice looking cars.  And I’m going to be arriving in regular clothes and changing on-site anyway.  Easier for the photographer that way, less chance of wrinkled dresses that way.  So really the only downside is no “bride getting out of the limo shot.”  For the money being saved, I think it’s going to be worth it.  We can bring our own champagne, ice bucket and glasses for the ride to Boston : )