Start from the ceremony, not the morning
The ceremony time is the only genuinely fixed point in the day. Build every earlier leg backwards from it, and every later leg forwards.
A common error is planning forwards from the getting-ready address, which quietly pushes all the accumulated slippage onto the ceremony itself — the one thing that cannot start late.
The buffers people leave out
Loading time. Eight people in formalwear with dresses and bags take twelve to fifteen minutes to load, not three.
The photographer's first-look window. If you are doing one, it needs a real thirty to forty-five minutes and a location with parking.
Traffic that is not on the map. Toronto weekend road closures — marathons, festivals, film shoots — are announced but rarely checked. We check them the week of.
The receiving line. Almost always runs fifteen minutes longer than planned.
A workable sample timeline
1:00pm Vehicle arrives at the getting-ready address (30 min before departure).
1:30pm Depart for the ceremony venue.
2:00pm Arrive, 60 minutes before the ceremony.
3:00pm Ceremony.
3:45pm Couple departs for photographs.
5:00pm Depart photo location for the reception.
5:30pm Arrive at the reception, cocktail hour underway.
11:30pm–1:00am Guest shuttle returns to the hotel block.
Adjust the numbers, keep the shape.
Guest shuttle maths
A 20 to 30 passenger party bus doing three round trips moves about 70 guests comfortably. A larger coach doing two trips moves the same number with fewer departures, but needs somewhere to park and is usually brought in through a partner operator.
Two departure times before the ceremony and two returns after the reception is the usual pattern, plus one late return for the people who stay to the end. Post the times where guests will actually see them — the hotel lobby and the place cards.
The shuttle is also the cheapest liability insurance at any wedding with an open bar.
Booking with us
Every journey described here can be booked flat-rated with a written confirmation. Reserve online, email support@buktryp.com, or call dispatch on 1-855-255-6622 at any hour.