On the big day, you have a thousand things on your mind. The dress, the rings, the best man's speech, the weather. Your guests' transport should not be one of them, and yet it is the supplier that couples almost always add last, the week before. Here is how I work so that it becomes, precisely, the thing you do not have to think about.
The supplier you think of last
When you list the suppliers for a wedding in Provence, the order almost always runs the same way: caterer, photographer, florist, DJ or band, officiant, decorator, hairdresser. Transport lands at the very bottom of the list. Sometimes it does not even get there, you tell yourself a cousin will lend their car, or that the rental from the day before will do.
A groom called me on a Wednesday for a wedding on the Saturday. The car rented to take the couple from the town hall to the bastide had had a mechanical problem the day before the trial run. I was available, I said yes. But I could have been booked, and he would have had to call all the local taxis one by one, on a Thursday at 6pm.
The other blind spot is the guest. Couples think about their own car for the day. They forget the mother-in-law who does not have one, the witnesses arriving by train at Aix TGV or Marseille Saint-Charles, the elderly parents who cannot walk 400 metres from the car park to the church. These people need a driver, and they will not say so until the day before.
Booking ahead, without pressure
Booking in advance is preferable, especially for summer Saturdays, so that I can block the date and prepare the day with you. But if you are closer to the date, do not worry: I adapt and find suitable vehicles, even at the last minute.
What I offer: time slots or a full day
I can work in two ways depending on your organisation.
Full day
I follow you from morning to the end of the evening. First trip to take the bride and her family to the reception venue or the church. Transfer from the town hall to the ceremony venue. Transfers for elderly guests or those staying far from the estate. Return late at night for couples who do not sleep on site.
Specific time slots
I line up with the critical moments: a witnesses' return trip between the station and the ceremony in the morning, a town hall to bastide trip at noon, rotations for elderly parents at the end of the drinks reception. You pay for the hours I work, not the downtime in between.
I do not do limousines. No flowered carriage. I provide a clean, punctual service, with a well-kept vehicle and a driver who knows when to talk and when to stay silent. For many couples, that is exactly what they are looking for.
On the day, what I do before you see me
The last full wedding I did was on a Saturday in June in Cassis. Town hall at 11am, blessing at the Notre-Dame-de-la-Victoire church at 12:30pm, drinks reception in a bastide in Roquefort-la-Bédoule, a dinner that stretched until 2am. Eight return trips in the same day between the coast and the bastide. It could have been a mas in the Alpilles, a property in Les Baux-de-Provence, a bastide near Gordes or a Bandol wine estate: the geography changes, the principle stays.
For this kind of day, I clean the vehicle thoroughly the day before. Spotless interior, no lingering odours, fresh water available in the back. I systematically arrive an hour before the first official trip. Not to be over-zealous, but because there is always something unexpected. The dress that takes longer to put on. The photographer who wants "just five minutes" that turn into twenty. Confetti in the hair that delays the whole procession.
That hour in advance is what gets you to the town hall on time. The rest of the day is just driving.
The estates and bastides I already know
For reception venues between the Pays d'Aix, Cassis, Sainte-Victoire, the Alpilles, the Luberon and the Vaucluse, I know the access roads, including those not marked by standard GPS, or those that go along a dirt track for the last 300 metres. Isolated bastides in Les Baux-de-Provence, mas around Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, wine estates in Lourmarin or Gordes, Bandol appellation estates, hotel-restaurants on the coast between Cassis and La Ciotat: on the day, it is not the time to be searching.
If your ceremony venue is not familiar to me, I go and scout it beforehand, this is included in the service for full-day weddings.
The details that make the difference
Silence or music, you decide. Some couples want to keep this ride for themselves, a few minutes alone after the civil ceremony, before rejoining everyone. Others need to talk, laugh, let the stress out. I adapt. If you want a particular playlist, send it to me the day before.
And if you have foreign guests, many weddings in the Luberon and the Alpilles do, I can manage a decent welcome in English. Nothing exceptional, but enough to reassure a cousin who has come from London or New York at 4am on the church forecourt.
Large families: several coordinated vehicles
When thirty people need to be transported between the ceremony and the reception venue, one driver is not enough. I work with trusted colleagues, other independent taxis in the Bouches-du-Rhône, the Var and the Vaucluse, whom I know and with whom I have already coordinated whole days. We synchronise departures, share the schedule, nobody is forgotten on the church forecourt.
You talk to a single contact, me, and behind the scenes, the team drives.
The rate
For a wedding, I calculate based on the kilometres driven and the hours of waiting on site. Everything is announced at booking: no last-minute supplement, no surprise on the bill. The regulated taxi rate remains the basis, and the quote details are sent to you in writing before the day.
To understand how the dedicated day driver option works, the most used for weddings, see our Chauffeur hire page. And to lock in a date, a full day or several coordinated vehicles, the simplest is to contact us directly for a firm quote.
To book
Your wedding deserves a driver who knows the roads and anticipates the unexpected. That is what MR Taxi has done since 2012 between Marseille, Aix, the Luberon and the Var coast.
If you have a date, contact us: booking in advance is preferable, but I adapt and find suitable vehicles, even at the last minute.
