Right Way Shuttle in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, has been in business for thirteen years. President and owner Tom Klatt says, “The business started to provide late night transportation service to area university and college students. But we decided to make a change and went into transportation for weddings and bachelor parties, and we kept growing and changing. My philosophy is to always change. What we do today might be totally wrong for tomorrow’s needs,” says Klatt.
For several years it has been popular for couples getting married to hire a limousine to provide transportation for the wedding party. Klatt says now, though, the limo business is changing in response to couples wanting something different than just limos. Another big change is that rather than the main focus being transportation for the wedding party, the aspect of providing transportation for wedding guests from hotel to venue has grown to be a big part of what they do. Klatt explains why: “In this day and age, weddings are often held at barns and wineries and golf courses. The traditional idea of having the reception at a banquet hall is now often the last option. And that has created more of a need for guests to get from where they’re staying to where the wedding and reception are being held and back to the hotel again. Lots of these venues are very rural, you don’t know where you’re going , you don’t want to be late, it’s dark, it’s foggy. Right Way Shuttle had taken care of all that for our customers. Our drivers are professional. They know where they’re going. They literally take care of all the details.”
Another reason to provide transportation for your guests is that because many of your guests will drink at the reception, you will want them to be safe and not drive if they’ve been drinking.
If wedding transportation is something new to you or you’re thinking of providing guest transportation, call Right Way. Klatt suggests that as soon as you have reserved your reception venue, your next step is to secure your wedding transportation. And to do that, couples should call Laura in the office to discuss the particular needs of your day, such as how many guests you expect, location of the ceremony and the reception, how many trips back and forth between venue and hotel are best, ages and needs of the guests, and sizes and types of vehicles available and which ones would be most appropriate for your day. Right Way can also advise you on which hotels to book to coordinate well with the transportation service to keep cost reasonable.
Couples often underestimate the cost of transportation and then don’t budget enough for it. Klatt says, “It shouldn’t be your last consideration. It should be one of your priorities. Especially if the majority of your guests are not from the area and aren’t familiar with the location.” Planning in advance to have reliable, experienced transportation arranged and then allocating an adequate portion of your wedding budget to that will insure that you—and your guests—don’t need to worry at all about transportation, and everyone can fully enjoy the best day possible.