Hey y'all--opinions wanted. My church is located downtown and there is no free parking in the area. There are pay lots within the same block of the church. While almost all of my guests are local and would know that parking is not free, myself and my FI still feel bad about our guests having to pay for parking to come to our ceremony. The guests would probably be parked in the pay lot for about two hours since we're having a Catholic Mass, so they would probably end up paying $10-12 in parking fees. Our reception venue is only about two miles away, but out of the downtown area. Guests will have free parking at the reception venue as we pay for it as part of our reception package. Out of the following options, which would you choose?
1.) Pre-pay for guests' downtown parking at one of the pay lots. I'm pretty sure you can sort of "rent" a certain number of spaces in a lot. Pros: Guests will have free parking. Cons: I can guesstimate how many spots to reserve based on RSVPs, but there is a chance I will over or underestimate.
2.) Provide shuttle service from the reception venue to the ceremony venue since parking is free for guests at the reception venue. Pros: Again, guests don't have to pay for parking and they will not have to walk 1+ block after parking since the shuttle can let them off in front of the church. Cons: Although a shuttle would work fine going to the ceremony since it could go back and forth and not everyone would be arriving at the same time, it would be a problem after the ceremony since everyone will need to leave at the same time. With the number of people invited, I would need 10 shuttle buses to transport everyone from the ceremony to the reception at the same time, which is not in my budget. Although they are only two miles apart, since it is going through downtown, the shuttle would not be able to go back and forth very quickly.
3.) Just let guests pay for their own parking. Pros: No additional cost for us. Since most guests are local, they would probably expect it. Cons: I'm worried about appearing rude for having guests pay for an aspect of our wedding.
Sorry for the length of the post!
