Stag and bachelorette nights in Toronto: a chauffeur instead of a designated driver

The group's night, in one paragraph

The stag and the bachelorette are the black car trade's most planned nights and its least predictable — a group that has booked the dinner, the club, the vehicle and the champagne three weeks ahead, and then changes the route at 11 p.m. because the club's line is around the block; a planner who has counted fourteen and finds sixteen at the door; a 2 a.m. finish on a King Street corner where nothing can stop. A chauffeur who works these nights knows the vehicles and what each carries, the route's venues and their doors, the corners at 2 a.m., the province's rules on the champagne, the planner's checklist and the swap dispatch makes when the group grows, and — above all — the sequence home that ends with every member at their own door. This guide covers the vehicles, the hourly and its minimum, the route's stops, the King West and the waterfront pickups, the champagne and the rules, the planner's checklist, the deposit, the out-of-town guests, the day version, the safe ride, the morning after, and a worked bachelorette.

The vehicles

The stretch limousine (the stretch limo page — the 8-to-10-passenger Lincoln or Chrysler, the bar, the lights, the arrival): the bachelorette's classic and the stag's for a group that wants the photograph outside the club; the four-hour minimum. The stretch SUV (the Escalade or the Navigator stretch — 12 to 14, the bridal party transport article's comparison): the same with more room and a higher door. The Sprinter (the Sprinter guide — 11 to 14 seated, standing headroom, the coolers, the luggage for an out-of-town group): the crew's practical choice and the one that fits a Woodbine afternoon or a Niagara day. The limo bus (the limo bus vs Sprinter article — 20 to 30, the party on wheels): the large stag. The sedan or SUV: the couple's own night out (the date night article) or the four-person group. The fleet page shows them all and dispatch's rule is: count the group, add two, choose the vehicle that fits the larger number.

The hourly and its minimum

A group's night is the hourly — the vehicle and the chauffeur from the first pickup to the last drop, waiting at every stop, no charge per stop — with the Friday and Saturday evening minimum (three hours for a sedan or an SUV, four for a stretch, the hourly vs point-to-point article's arithmetic that says the hourly beats five transfers by the second stop) and the what is included in a fare article's inclusions (the chauffeur, the fuel, the waiting, the water; the gratuity set at booking — the gratuity guide). A six-hour Saturday in a stretch SUV split fourteen ways is the how much does a black car cost article's worked example, and the engine quotes it.

The route's stops

The city's stag and bachelorette route has a few fixed points: the dinner (King West's restaurant row — the Entertainment District guide's Spadina-to-Portland blocks, with Portland or Brant as the drop; a Yorkville room — the Yorkville guide's Bellair corner; the Distillery's El Catrin — the Distillery District guide's Mill Street gate); the bars (Ossington's strip — Ossington's curb off-peak or Argyle and Foxley; Queen West; the Cocktail Bar and the Dundas West rooms); the club (the Richmond and Adelaide rooms — Peter's east curb north of Richmond, never the bike lanes; the waterfront's Rebel and Cabana — the concert article's Polson loop and the Cherry and Commissioners late corner); the late-night food (Chinatown's Spadina at 3 a.m., the King and Bathurst diner); and, for a day version, the Woodbine afternoon, the Niagara wine tour, the Blue Jays game, the Toronto Islands, a golf day or a Muskoka weekend. The planner sets the stops; the chauffeur plans the corners.

The King West and the waterfront pickups at 2 a.m.

The Entertainment District guide's rule: King Street is the streetcar corridor and nothing stops on it, so every pickup is a side street — Portland, Brant, Widmer, Blue Jays Way, Peter's east curb, Wellington west of Spadina (a stretch or a Sprinter needs a full curb — Wellington or Bathurst's east side), Mercer, Adelaide's and Richmond's non-lane curbs — named in the confirmation and agreed with the group before the club; at 2 a.m. the apps surge, the side streets are a jam of hunting rideshares, and the group's vehicle is where it said, with the Nuit Blanche and late-night article's overnight roster and the Scotiabank Arena guide's named-corner discipline. Rebel's 3 a.m. is the Cherry and Commissioners corner when the Polson loop is a scrum.

The champagne and Ontario's rules

Ontario's liquor law allows passengers to drink in a vehicle only where the vehicle's licence permits it — a stretch limousine or a limo bus with a liquor sales licence or a special-occasion arrangement, with the passenger compartment separated from the driver's, and the alcohol supplied under the licence's terms; a sedan, an SUV or a Sprinter without that licence is a private vehicle under the Highway Traffic Act and the Liquor Licence and Control Act, and open alcohol in it is an offence for the passenger and a problem for the operator. The stretch limo page explains which of the fleet's vehicles carry the licence and what the group may bring; the in-car amenities article covers the water, the ice and the glassware; and a chauffeur who says "not in this vehicle" is protecting the group's night, not spoiling it. The province's rules are the reference.

The planner's checklist

The planner — the best man, the maid of honour, the friend who volunteered — sends dispatch: the headcount (and dispatch adds two), the date and the first pickup's time and address (and the second, third and fourth pickups if the group assembles from several homes), the stops in order with the reservations' times, the vehicle (or dispatch's recommendation), the end time and the drop sequence (who lives where — the sequence is planned at booking, not at 2 a.m.), the bride's or the groom's name for the confirmation, and the card for the deposit. The how to book online article shows the fields, the executive assistants' guide's booker logic applies to a planner, and dispatch calls the planner the day before to confirm the route.

The deposit and the changes

A stretch, a stretch SUV, a Sprinter or a limo bus for an occasion carries a deposit at booking (the deposits and payment article — the occasion category, the amount, the card) and the occasion's cancellation terms (the cancellation policies article's seven days for an occasion vehicle); the route's changes on the night — a club with a line, a bar that closed, a member who wants to go home early — are handled by the chauffeur and dispatch on the hourly without charge, and the group that grows from fourteen to sixteen at the door gets a second vehicle from the map if one is free and an honest answer if not, which is why dispatch adds two at booking.

The out-of-town guests

A stag whose members fly in from Calgary, Vancouver or London — the groom's brother, the university friends — is the Pearson page's Friday arrivals (a Sprinter for the group landing together, the group transfers article), a King West or a Financial District hotel (the Entertainment District guide's hotels), the Saturday night, and the Sunday's departures; a bachelorette's weekend from Montreal is the same with the Union Station pickup guide's VIA arrival, and the Toronto visitor guide fills the Saturday afternoon.

The day version

The stag's or the bachelorette's daytime — a Woodbine afternoon with a clubhouse table, a Niagara wine tour's four wineries, a Blue Jays afternoon game, a golf day, a Toronto Islands afternoon, a spa day in Yorkville, a cottage weekend in Muskoka — is the Sprinter on the hourly (the wine, the golf bags, the beach gear) with the Niagara wine tour article's day, the Woodbine article's Plate, the Rogers Centre guide's block, the golf article's gatehouse or the multi-day hire article's weekend; the day version's safe ride is the reason it is a black car.

The safe ride home for every member

The night's last hour is its most important: fourteen people, in the vehicle at 2:15, dropped in a sequence dispatch planned at booking — Leslieville, the Beaches, Leaside, Forest Hill, the King West condominiums, the 905 last — with the chauffeur waiting at each door until it closes, the women travelling alone article's and the passenger safety article's standard for every member, and a member who has had too much handed to a friend at the door rather than left on a curb. A parent who books a daughter's bachelorette vehicle books it for this hour, and the duty of care article's logic applies to a group as to a company.

The morning after

The wedding is often the next weekend and sometimes the next day — the wedding limo guide and the wedding day timeline article cover the day the stag and the bachelorette precede — and a group that books the night with us books the wedding's vehicles in the same conversation, with the bridal party transport article's choice and the wedding guest shuttles article's Sprinters; the Sunday morning's airport runs for the out-of-town guests are the Pearson page's, booked with the Friday's arrivals.

A worked bachelorette

Twelve women, a Saturday in June, the maid of honour's plan. 4:00 p.m.: a stretch SUV at the bride's Leslieville home — the first six; 4:30 the Beaches' three; 5:00 a King West condominium's three. 5:30: a King West restaurant's Portland Street corner; dinner until 7:45 with the champagne in the vehicle before (the stretch's licence). 8:00: a Toronto Islands sunset — no; the plan changed at dinner to a Harbourfront patio; the Lower Simcoe curb. 10:00: an Ossington bar — Argyle's corner. 11:45: a Richmond Street club — Peter's east curb north of Richmond; the stretch on Wellington west of Spadina through the club. 2:10 a.m.: the text — "coming out"; 2:20 at Peter's curb; twelve aboard. 2:25: Chinatown's Spadina for the dumplings, the stretch on Cameron. 3:00–4:15: the sequence — King West, the Beaches, Leslieville, the bride last, the chauffeur at each door until it closed. Twelve hours on the hourly, one plan changed, no one on a curb.

Stag and bachelorette quick reference

Booking the night

The stretch limo page books the stretch and the stretch SUV; the hourly chauffeur page the Sprinter's night or day; the engine takes the planner's checklist in the notes; the wedding limo page the wedding the night precedes. Book three weeks ahead for a Saturday; dispatch calls the planner the day before.

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