A New Leaf Event Space - What did you do about the parking situation?

Magglez

I recently toured A New Leaf's event space (located in Old Town Chicago) and LOVED it. There is one big problem though, NO parking. It's located in a very busy area that is really difficult to park in. I am planning on having around 100 guests. 

I will not be staying in a hotel, so I don't have the option to have people meet there and shuttle them over. The staff at the venue said someone once used a valet service, but they had no idea who they used. 

Has anyone here used A New Leaf for their wedding and also used valet service? If so, who did you use? How much did it cost? Any alternatives would be helpful as well! So far I haven't gotten much from a regular Google search...

I really want to use this space

-Maggie

santiago2615

@magglez, I worked in Old Town for a while and parking was horrible! maybe see if you can hire the valet service the restaurants in the area use? I think it's the same company (Old Town Valet) for the restaurants on Wells St. Or maybe tell your guests to look into SpotHero.com? It gives options on parking rates in the city. Good luck!

thisismynickname2

In addition to the great advice above, are your guests local to Chicago or the suburbs? Are a lot of people traveling from further away? Just because you are not staying in a hotel doesn't mean you won't want to reserve a block of rooms nearby, and then you can shuttle people. 

Also, especially if people are local to the city or suburbs, then they're perfectly capable of taking trains, cabs, or Uber and not worrying about parking at all. 

My reception was on Michigan Ave. Some people coughed up money to park in garages, some parked at their hotel, some took public transit. I think trying to hire valet is great of you, yet, at some point you need to draw a line. People are adults who need to figure out how to get places. Frankly, if this is a make or break on using this venue, then don't worry much about it and just get the venue. 

Magglez

Thank you for the replies!

I looked into valet service and it ended up being WAY out of our budget.

I think I am going to go with the space anyway and just give people links to public transportation (Taxi, CTA, Uber, etc.) on our wedding website.

I'm going to suggest car pooling as well and see if I can negotiate a discounted rate with the Chicago Historical Society parking garage across the street.

I park there all the time when I go to North Avenue Beach