As y'all know, I was so excited about the sweet ride we rented from Owen Chapel to Mere Bulles. Our man, Reggie Slaughter, owns a 1939 Packard. Our service was what you call a "transfer." A transfer is a one-time fee to pick you up and drop you off. No paying for hours while the driver sits and waits while you dance the night away.
Photos courtesy my friend Scott!Our original plan was to pay for a transfer with Reggie from Owen Chapel to Mere Bulles. We'd get some hot pics with the car from JCP and have a fun ride as newly marrieds!
Well, as the wedding day continued to approach, The Candyman's truck was still in the shop. It was going to be our "get-away" car after the reception. It's big. It's white. It would be fun. At the time he was driving some little rental POS. I was NOT going to be driven away in that thing. I was sure to have issues getting in the darn thing with The Dress and all.
We were seriously just 2 or 3 days to The Big Show and we had no ride. In a total awesome turn of fate, I happened to get a congratulations card from an unexpected source. That card contained $200, cold hard cash. And, thank you very much for the well-timed cash advance!
What I did was I called Reggie at the last minute about doing another transfer. He agreed and even gave us a discount on transfer #2. So, instead of paying something crazy like you might here, we just paid for the transfer twice. Since he wasn't booked, it was last minute, and we had a fun time on the phone together, he cut us a deal.
WEDDING TIP #6: Be pleasant to ALL vendors you encounter, even the ones who try to screw you. Why? Because you never know. Vent later to the hubs-to-be, but never be mean.
WEDDING TIP #7: It can never hurt to ask, so ASK! I got lucky with Reggie and didn't have to pay an hourly rate for 5 hours.
However, as lucky as I got, we still went over because we needed transportation! I could have sucked it up, but by this point in the game, I was like, "Fuck it. We're spending the money." Seriously, be careful here my beautiful little brides-to-be. That "fuck it" attitude, if used without discretion, can bite you in the bridal booty. We got lucky though and I only really had to pull the "fuck it" card once. Oh, OK twice if you count the Beauty Budget. Sheesh.
We also had another transportation issue that came in a little higher than we expected. We knew for the last half of the planning that we were going to need to rent a handicap van to help out some family members. That ended up being a lot more expensive than we thought, but was a necessary evil that we just accepted and moved on from.
So, all told, we went over in our transportation budget by 25%. Yup. That's right. But, if you don't count the magical $200 cold-hard-cash we got, we only went over 10%. Give me a calculator and I can justify anything! :)
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This is helpful for anyone considering renting a car for a short period of time! We both agree that transportation is our lowest priority. Isn't even in the budget. However, we will potentially have several out-of-town guests. Did your OOT'ers just rent cars or get rides or what?
ReplyDeleteLittle Spoon - We mostly had a lot of cooperation with friends and family who helped with airport pick-ups and such. We were really lucky that our hotel offerd a FREE shuttle within a 5 mile radius of the hotel. Both the chapel and reception fell into that category. So we mostly just had everyone without cars shuttle. This was a huge plus for a lot of people. I suggest asking your hotel if they offer this service for free or at a discount.
ReplyDeleteThe downside was that the shuttle to hotel came early to Mere Bulles and lots of people all left at once!
Beautiful photos!! You shared some great points that will be keeping in mind. As of now, the car rental is the lowest on the totem pole.
ReplyDeleteLouise, just kinda catching up now but loved your ride. Sw-eeettt!
ReplyDeleteHey! I think I know the photographer... work looks very familiar.
ReplyDelete