If you are planning to rent a limo on your wedding there are a few
questions you need to answer to make the experience successful. What is
your budget? What size of limo do you need and what style of limo do you
want for your wedding day?
Are you planning to rent a limo for your wedding day? If so you should
probably start planning well ahead of time because you will need to
reserve your limo six to nine months out from your wedding day. Yes,
they book up fast and if you are planning a summer wedding you
definitely want to get your reservation in early so you can arrive and
leave in style. For the detail orientated brides who like to have it all
tapped out the day after the proposal- most limo companies won’t
reserve the limo a year out so the best you can do is call at the nine
month mark.
Before you reserve your limo you will need to decide three things. First
what is your budget? A typical limo runs $100 to $300 an hour and as
much as you may want to economize here and only rent it for an hour –
you should be realistic in your assumptions that your whole wedding will
go off without a hitch in an hour or less. The rule of thumb to follow
is to rent for an hour longer than you anticipate needing the limo so
when and if anything goes wrong- you won’t be stranded at the church.
Weddings rarely start on time, it is inevitable that the best man
forgets his tie or the bridesmaid leaves her boutique in the hotel room
or the mother of the groom is running late. Relieve your stress now by
planning for those contingencies in your rental time. You will want to
make sure you have plenty of time for the limo to take you to the
church, wait for the wedding to commence and then take you away to
wherever you plan to go after the wedding.
The next question is what size of limo do you need? Again the rule of
thumb here is to rent bigger than you think you need. When a limo says
it can hold ten passengers it is estimating the average weight of the
passengers to be 150 pounds or less. Throw a few big guys in there and
it can suddenly seem like a very small and cramped ride. Not exactly the
luxury ride you were counting on for your wedding day. So if you only
plan on a party of ten, rent for a party of 14. It is better to have too
much room than to have the bridesmaids sitting on the laps of the best
men and ushers because you went small.
Finally what type of limo do you want to rent? You can rent a typical
limo that holds ten to fourteen passengers or you can go for a specialty
limo like a Hummer, expedition or antique roadster but be prepared to
pay a substantial amount more for the specialty limos.
And as you plan your limo budget you should also figure in a 15-20% cash
tip of the total bill for the night for the driver. This gratuity is
expected so make sure you plan it in your wedding budget.
