FI and I are going to have our reception on a family farm and have been discussing allowing guests to camp on the land. There are only two hotels in town and we want to offer a third, cheaper option since a lot of our guests will be on a budget and will be driving from far away. We don't need to plan or finalize or even decide to offer this for awhile, but we got into an arguement about the etiquette of this and I'm wondering who is right.
The farm is on unfiltered well water that reeks of sulfer. The plumbing cannot support our guest list, plus the reception is outside, so we were going to have porta potties and sinks available anyway and this is what we would have for camping guests. There's no argument that we have to offer that, but it's an added cost. Most OOT guests will be driving 6+ hours, so they will likely want to arrive the day before. I think that if they are staying on family land for two days, it would be rude to not provide them with meals. At least breakfast Saturday and Sunday (obviously Saturday dinner will be the reception). I brought up the concern that we cannot afford to provide sanitation and food for however many guests would take us up on this option, and I feel it would be rude to charge them as if we were a commercial campsite.
FI agrees 100% that we can't charge them. But he thinks that we are under no obligation to feed them. He says that we are providing free lodging for them, as long as they provide a tent, so they are already better off than if they were paying $100+ to stay in a hotel, so they can get or bring their own food. I say that they are on a farm outside of a town they have never been to before, it's not fair to tell them to fend for themselves. He says we'll give them information to help them find food, no different that if they were in a Super 8. And they aren't paying us $60/night, so we don't have to give them free breakfast.
CN: If we offer the option of camping for free on a family farm for wedding guests, do we have to provide their meals? Any other opinions on this situation are welcome, too, since we're still tossing around ideas on how to put this all together.
