Caution

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. PLANNING EVENT/WEDDING TRANSPORTATION 72 HOURS IN ADVANCE IS NOT RECOMMENDED 

 Click here to read why you shouldn't plan event or wedding transportation last

We recently were hired 72 hours before a 230 person rehearsal dinner in Palm Springs, CA to design and produce all the transportation.

Traveling to Palm Springs, CA from my family vacation in Fairhope, Alabama

How Brilliant Planned Wedding Transportation in Under 72 Hours

Backstory:

This occurred because I had a meeting with a terrific client of ours and was reviewing some of our capabilities they may not be aware of (i.e. designing and producing event transportation and wedding transportation globally and not being hindered to our local geographies).  

Sure enough, they hadn’t even contemplated Brilliant for inclusion in this VIP event because they considered us a local NYC company and their instinct, like most planners, is to google local geographic partners and grind / muscle through trying to work together, explain the design and aesthetics, and the VIP nature of the event.

We made a video about this common problem. I'll include it below.

 After that, you typically hand over a manifest with two goals:

1. Move the correct number of people as efficiently as possible

2. Keep it within budget

When we sat down to discuss this wedding transportation in particular a few items immediately struck me and I offered free advice - mind you, the initial meeting occurred when the wedding was about 2 weeks away and they had signed a contract (at least they thought so at the time) so I gave them a few quick thoughts to contemplate, address, and refine with their local transportation company.

Initial Questions:

1) How many guests need transportation?

Answer: Around 230 people

2) What vehicles have you chosen?

Answer: 5 motor coaches

3) Where is the staging area?

Answer: The hotel - about 15 minutes away

Concerns:

1) Vehicle Selections 

• Unless you are running a conference and are going to have a long steady line of guests, I never recommend all motor coaches.  The only exception to this rule would be budgetary - if that is all that you can afford, your hands are tied.  But, in general, for any VIP ‘hospitality’ focused event or wedding where guest experience is important, I maintain that motor coaches solely are NOT a good guest experience.  

• In fact, to be more direct, they can be a downright BAD guest experience and will require additional resources in the form of strong and knowledgeable on-site coordinators.  We are big advocates of mixing fleet options to match and optimize guest boarding leading to a more favorable client / guest experience.

2) Travel Time

• Google maps and uber were in fact showing 15 minutes travel time. However, a motor coach will generally take at least 25 - 50% more time to navigate in normal urban conditions with turns, lights, traffic etc.  

• So, for a motor coach, the actual time I budgeted was 25 minutes not including load time.  With normal loading (i.e. a steady stream of 50+ guests), I would estimate the bus would load in approximately 10 minutes.  However, with more random or leisurely loading, that bus could take 15 - 25 minutes to load especially if you only have motor coaches and require the bus filled to capacity.

3) Staging Area

• The end time of the rehearsal dinner was not fixed - guests might start to exit between 10pm and midnight. Given the staging area located about 25 minutes away and a strict “no standing” policy in front of the private residence, I feared a total disaster at the end of the night with tired and partially inebriated guests wanting to leave and being forced to wait for a bus. Even 10 minutes seems like forever.

4) On-site Coordination

• The event planers had a junior intern assigned to work with 2 “directional” part-time ladies to handle all the transportation of 230 + guests.

Solutions:

1) Mix and Match for an Optimal Fleet

• Three 12 passenger Sprinter vans (primarily reserved for the Bride and Groom families but also for small groups, stragglers, etc.)

• Three 28 passenger minibuses

• Two 55 passenger motor coaches

2) Hire Professional On-site Coordinator

• Assists loading passengers into correct vehicle based on the flow of guests requiring transportation, dispatching the fleet and working with the chauffeurs advising when to circle back for another shuttle load. We HIGHLY recommend using a professional on-site coordinator read more here.

3) Closer Staging Area 

• Either rent a church, school parking lot, or locate a neighborhood street that allowed parking.  We worked closely with the house manager who after reviewing our suggestions, came up with a few.  Consequently we were able to park / stage only 3 minutes away. These practical staging tips made the exit boarding 1000x better experience. 

Once I offered this free assessment of my concerns and potential solutions, our client recognized the need for professional assistance and also recognized the cost of failure.  They researched the contract, and it was not signed.  They asked for a proposal which in this case cost more as we increased the fleet count (used 8 vehicles instead of 5) and also included one professional on-site coordinator.

So, with 72 hours remaining, we were officially hired for one quick rehearsal dinner in Palm Springs.  I personally handled the on site coordination and gladly left my Family on vacation for a whirlwind 36 hours traveling 4000 miles and sleeping 6 hours in 48 hours.  

I ended up documenting those 36 hours on my GoPro. Check out the video below!

Moral of the Story

This is a case in point where the original budget was not correct based on a better designed transportation plan. And, we were very direct and informed them that given the short notice, we would not necessarily be able to use different vendors than their selection or guarantee availability.  In the end, we used two different vendors and included their original selection who did a fine job with the actual transportation. In our experience, the transportation isn't frustrating due to the fleet or the drivers.  Typically, it is due to manageable items that are easy to address, plan, and prepare for like proper:

1. Design
2. Budget
3. Logistics
4. Execution
5. Production

We are interested in making this event transportation headache go away. I will gladly give you our advice for free.  

Just ask!

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