Mercy asks:
I’ve been asked to do a wedding two hours from Sydney and quoted an extra $50 above my usual fee each way, but they want to do a rehearsal the day before which would require me driving an extra four hours plus the time it takes to do the rehearsal. How would you recommend I charge for this?
Josh and I, along with every celebrant in the universe, have different ways of calculating travel fees, so this article is definitely just my view and the way I do it.
It’s a very personal decision, choosing how and when to apply travel fees, and things to consider include how much time you’re willing to spend away from your family and other bookings and life, as well as how badly you want the specific job you’re quoting for.
I don’t have a family (no partner or kids), nor much of a life if I’m honest, and I prefer to have one booking even if it’s not the most profitable arrangement I could get for the day, so I’m fairly transparent about how I calculate travel fees, and I tend to apply them the same way for every couple I meet.
I advertise that my premium wedding package includes travel within 40km of my home in Glen Iris, Victoria. Outside of that I reserve the right to charge travel fees, although I don’t tend to actually start charging them until I’m travelling over 70km from home. If a couple books me for a wedding that is, for example, 200km from my home, I do the following calculation:
- 200km there plus 200km home equals 400km
- 80km is included in my package
- Therefore I’m going to charge them for 320km
- I charge at 66c per kilometre (the ATO mileage rate has gone up to 68 cents per kilometre in 2018, so I might just change to that).
- 320km x $0.66 equals $211.20
- I like to round my figures out, so I’d probably quote them $210 per attendance at the venue
That last part is important, because it covers me for a rehearsal if they want one. If I’m charging to travel to the venue on the wedding day, I’m also going to charge them to travel to the venue for a rehearsal. I’m also happy to run rehearsals in backyards or parks, or final meetings at my usual restaurant, to avoid us all trooping out to the venue a second time.
Some celebrants suggest charging more than the ATO mileage rate because that really only covers petrol and wear and tear on your car, and you should still charge for your travelling time. But I choose not to do that (for no other reason than that then my travel fees get really high and I get scared that the couple won’t book me – yes, I’m a bit gutless!).
In addition to the mileage calculation, I personally won’t drive more than four hours in a single day; it’s too exhausting, and I don’t have anyone who accompanies me to weddings, so I don’t feel that it’s safe for me to do that. If a couple’s wedding venue is further than a two-hour drive from my home, I’m also going to charge them for a night’s accommodation. Again, I’m a bit gutless and I tend to just throw out $150 as an accommodation charge; it’s not too tricky to get a hotel room for that amount in most country towns in Victoria, and I feel guilty charging them for something more “special”. If I want to stay in a fancy room, I can pay the difference myself.
The accommodation situation can help with the rehearsal situation; in order to avoid me making two trips to their venue, some couples choose to have me stay the night before their wedding, and run the rehearsal the day before. I’m more than happy to do that, although it has on occasion left me with a lot of hours to fill in weird places the day of the wedding (last time I had to check out at 10am and the wedding wasn’t until 4pm; I just drove to the closest big town and went to the movies!).
I haven’t yet been asked to quote on an interstate or overseas wedding, and to be honest I don’t think I’d be particularly interested in doing either unless I could somehow make a holiday out of it. I’m ultimately a home body and I like coming home, sitting on my couch, and eating pizza after a wedding 🙂
So that’s how I manage travel. Does anyone want to let us know in the comments how they do it?
Thanks Sarah, very helpful as always.
My view is that piddily amounts for travel, like cents on the kilometre etc are an annoying addition to our fee, so I charge what it costs for me to operate a business in driving range of my home, and if I hav to fly or stay overnight I charge what that costs.
I include 100km of travel because I don’t want to charge within BRISBANE, but after that $1/km to allow for the vehicle costs but also my time.
Time is also a big factor when you’re not driving by car. So I charge an hourly rate for “downtime” when not travelling by car – don’t forget about that!
Yup I’m the same as you Peter!
I’m the same as Pete but I’m a tight ass and only include 50kms of brisbane cbd. My fee is cheaper than others so I make some money in travel ????
I pluck numbers out of the air-ish, if it’s more than an hour or so from my house, otherwise it’s a fixed fee.
But if I have to fly and stay over night, I pluck a bigger number. Of course I want the cost of flights and accomo covered, but time away from my family is worth more than that, so I add to it accordingly.
Great topic – I charge a dollar a km from my home both ways, for rehearsal and ceremony. If the ceremony is on the Mornington Peninsula I have family I can stay with so I try and get the rehearsal to be the day before so I can save them some travel dollars, but I do charge the milage from my home in Castlemaine.
I don’t charge for travel if it’s 60 km or one hour drive total there and back from home, so from where I live in country Victoria I’ll go from home to any nearby town for free pretty much.
I don’t remove those 60 km from the travel cost total though like you do Sarah.
I like the $1/km because it’s round and the couple can also check the calculations themselves easily if they’re so inclined. I also double check on two apps because sometimes they take you a dumb way (from sitting on the couch when I’m working out the quote) and always quote the lower figure, obviously. Charging the full dollar helps also to compensate me for time and energy spent driving.
So great to be able to discuss this – I just pulled this system out of my bum about seven years ago when I felt confident enough to start charging mileage. Most people are cool with it, only times they aren’t is when it’s an email enquiry and they haven’t had a meeting yet so can’t see my full value as a legend and understand that they need me in their lives.
Oh also had a few times in the last year when it’s acquaintances who expect me to work for a pittance and are a bit shocked when the mileage comes to almost as much as the ceremony when I have to drive a million hours. I’m cool with letting those bookings go but I felt awful when one lady wrote back that she felt embarrassed because she couldn’t afford my fee. (I found a more local recommendation for her and it was all cool, but I never want people to feel shit so that was a bit of a low point).