Designated Driver vs Shuttle for guests

We are in the same situation, and are hiring shuttle busses (school busses) to do a pick up at the nearest hotel we have gotten a discount at, as well as two drop offs in the evening (one around 9-10 pm and one at end of night). It seemed like the simplest solution

We got a shuttle that would pick people up from the two hotels that we had blocks for and then did multiple trips to the hotels at night.

I was was initially sceptical about spending almost $900 for the service, but it was worth every penny. Our venue was about half an hour from the city we (and a good chunk of our guest list) live in, and about 15 minutes from the closest hotel. No public transport option, taxis/Uber would be sparse, and we had an open bar and a rowdy crowd. Our shuttle driver actually drove people right to their houses instead of sticking to the hotel route. We got a lot of positive feedback about it.

I've never even heard about that but what a great idea!

I’m going to see if I can get a coupon code through Uber to hopefully motivate guests to not drive if they aren’t able to.

I went to a wedding that had both options and it worked out really well. We were late for the shuttle so it was a great relief to know that our car would make it back with us.

Is both an option for you?

If all of your guests are staying at the same hotel, I would go with the shuttle. Guests may not want to have to worry about their cars at all. If you have people who really need to drive, then I would offer those guys the DD service.

We're going with a mix of both for our wedding day!

We're offering the option of a bus picking them up at the hotel and at another checkpoint on the way to the venue. Those guests will also be dropped off at the same locations at the end of the evening.

My parents will be driving me to the venue, so I'll offer them the DD service for the ride back. I still need to talk to my FH about his family, to see what they prefer.