If you live near a lake, river or the ocean, it’s a pretty sure thing that there is a company near you that offers dinner cruises. If so, it’s a pretty safe bet that they also have wedding packages of some sort. Typical costs run right around $50 a person, but that’s normally an all inclusive price that includes food, drinks the wedding ceremony and of course, the cruise itself. And it’s not just in the movies – a captain of a boat can indeed marry you!

For those couples who are on a tight budget, boat based weddings provide a number of advantages including:

1. It’s pretty darn impossible to go over budget by inviting too many guests because boats have a finite number of people they can hold. Reputable boat companies will have nothing to do with carrying more passengers than they are approved for.

2. Where the boat is on a schedule, there is very little chance you’ll be faced with additional billing for extra time on the water. The boat will return to its dock on a very specific schedule, which means the bar will close a short time prior to arriving back at the dock.

3. There will be no worries about having to provide transportation between your ceremony site and your reception site. If your guests are coming into your city or town and are staying at a hotel, they may need transportation to the dock, but that can be arranged pretty easily. If you have multiple guests in the same situation, you may be able to work out a special deal with their hotel for a discounted shuttle service.

4. You won’t have to have a huge decorating budget simply because there isn’t a whole lot of room for a huge number of decorations. Depending on the size of the tables and how crowded the tables are, you may not even be able to have centerpieces.

Just like any other venue, you’ll likely be able to score a discount if you book your wedding during an off peak time. This could mean going with a mid week voyage instead of a Saturday night at sunset sailing.

There are many reasons people use chauffeur car hire from corporate reasons to party nights. However, when anybody mentions chauffeur car hire, the first thing we tend to think of is weddings. Particularly through the summer months, not a Saturday goes by without churches being surrounded by chauffeur car hire vehicles carrying huge puff balls of silk creations to the side of their groom.

A small scale wedding can still afford some sort of chauffeur car hire service. Every bride deserves to be the centre of attention on her big day and this means turning up in style to the event itself. There are so many sizes and styles of wedding car, from traditional to modern, that there will be one to suit every budget.

If you’re looking for a real bargain basement wedding, ask around because friends and family are bound to know someone with a reasonably classic car that could take you to your wedding. No, this does not mean running your mate to church in your old Ford Escort XR3i – or your granddads Reliant Robin – it’s going to take a little more imagination than this.

For those with a slightly more impressive budget, there is a whole host of wedding cars that you could hire for this purpose. Some of the more traditional old cars can be very fitting for a country church wedding but if you were using a different venue, you might want to find something a little more appropriate. A stylish, up market BMW can be just as luxurious and make just as good an entry at the right location.

For those with a higher budget, Bentleys and Rolls Royce’s are always hot favourites when choosing a chauffeur car hire service. Wedding hire cars normally come with a standard bouquet of flowers and a ribbon to signify the brides car but these can be altered and adapted if you have specific requirements or wish to change the colours.

There are also options that cover open top cars and these can be great in the summer months, although with traditional British weather being what it is, there is no guarantee that it won’t rain on the day and an open top car never looks quite as impressive when it contains a wet bride and groom or a couple of umbrellas so you might want to consider an option where you can have the top up or down.

Some soon-to-be-weds choose the option of something very different for the transport, such as a Hummer limousine or even a tank. These are extremes but it really depends on the outlook of the couple involved and in no way detracts from the seriousness of the occasion. Weddings are a serious event but it is also important that everybody has a good time and, most importantly, a day to remember.

For those who would rather their day was remembered for the amazing wedding car, or the brides dress or even the wedding cake or ceremony as opposed to the punch up at the reception, wedding planners are now incorporating a virtual ‘bouncer’ into the plans. The ‘appointed person’ is briefed on certain members that have had to be invited but could potentially cause problems, and are instructed on how to deal with them, ie: remove them before the trouble gets out of hand, swap their drinks for non-alcoholic versions or steer them away from granny once they are intoxicated! Sign of the times, I’m guessing!