Travel-It's gotta be done!

Yesterday I met with a lovely couple over coffee to discuss their wedding coming up in October. I was happy to note that they had questions for me! Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of wedding planning, clients don't prepare questions to ask me when we meet up and I'm left giving them answers to some of my frequently asked questions instead. It's all good but I was so happy that they had some questions to ask me this time!

One of the questions that came up in our conversation is "what do you charge for travel?" I'm going to attempt to answer that in as simple a way possible.

Mile or Minute?

The real question becomes, "how much do you charge per mile?" The short answer is that I don't charge per mile at all. Instead, I charge per minute after 30 minutes. Basically what that means is that I will drive 30 minutes for free from my starting location (usually my house but sometimes work) and after that 30 minutes, I charge a small fee (detailed below). I do it this way because let's face it, Denver and the surrounding area are EXPLODING with people and traffic is not always great. What might be a reasonable 10 mile drive, could turn into an hour and a half on the road if traffic is bad which means I'm still running through gas like crazy to wait on traffic! 

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Calculating Travel Fees

I calculate travel fees by first looking up the time it will take me to get from my starting location to your venue at the time of day that I would need to get there. For example: if your ceremony is at 5:00 PM, I need to be there by 4:00 PM. I check Google Maps for that time of day to see on average how many minutes it will take me to get to your venue. Easy enough right?

After I learn how long it will take me to get there, I charge fifty cents per minute up there and fifty cents per minute back (not including the first 30 minutes). That calculates to $1.00 per minute outside of 30 minutes. I'll break down the math here:

Client venue=46 minutes away from my starting point
Celebrant=drives 30 minutes free of charge!
Client venue=still 16 minutes away after that 30 minute drive
Celebrant=charges $0.50 per minute (after the 30) up there equaling an additional $8.00 to get up there
Celebrant=charges $0.50 per minute (after the 30) to get home equaling an additional $8.00 to get back home
Add=$8.00+$8.00 to get $16
​Celebrant=charges $16 in travel fees to get to and from your venue location after the 30 minute drive

There you have it! Hopefully that helps explain how I calculate my travel fees!