Asking guests to pay to park

emme25

Our venue is located in our downtown which is small but doesn’t have much on street parking.  There is a lot located directly beside our venue but only five of those spaces belong to the venue.  The rest of the lot is paid through a pay box.  We would pay but how do we know which box to drop the money in and we can’t reserve the spots etc.  There are some garages that have attendants but they are so far of a walk from the venue.  I am conflicted as what to do for the parking.  I can give the option of a free lot (that is about 3 1/3 blocks away) for people to park in and also mention the pay lot on our website.  I know three blocks isn’t far but most if not all of my guests will complain that they have to walk that far.

SwedishChick2011

I'd probably just let the guests know about both options.  Then they can decide whether they want to pay for parking or walk the extra distance.  It sounds like it would be logistically difficult to pay their parking for them, so I wouldn't worry about that (especially since you're giving them a free option).

ac_in_dc

Could you talk to the owners of the pay lot and see if you could create vouchers for the guests to drop in the pay box? You could give the lot owner a cc # or something and they could charge you based on the number of vouchers.

You could also offer shuttle service, although that's expensive and may not be convenient for your guests.

If neither of these options work, though, 3.5 blocks isn't that bad. Folks tend to carpool to weddings and can get dropped off.

Good luck.

AmoroAgain

Yeah, I was in a situation similar to this.  The place where we held the reception doesn't own any of the parking around the area, and could only sell me a certain number of parking passes, so we decided to just give people the options of walking or parking.  Nothing much we could do about it.

sarah0725

I'm going to have to deal with the same thing, in my case paid parking at the venue or street parking, so I think I'm going to give my guests a map indicating which streets don't have meters, and also let them know about the pay option.

danieliza1127

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_asking-guests-pay-park?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:fdbab6b5-f1fe-4c74-9a9d-533591b58edcPost:f92150c5-8636-4831-88ce-e67e337529a5">Re: Asking guests to pay to park</a>:
[QUOTE]We actually ate brunch at our venue Sunday and walked throught the lot looking for a number to contact someone.  No number.  There is someone who stands out there on Fri and Sat nights and collects the money.  I guess they dont trust those pay boxes.  I was think about just talking to that person.
Posted by emme25[/QUOTE]

Did you ask your venue about it?  Surely you aren't the first person in this predicament.  Maybe they have advice or contact info for the pay lot people.

SwedishChick2011

Whoever mentioned that people will carpool and drop people off at the venue was probably right.  There might be older people who don't want to walk the 3.5 blocks or pay the extra, but if they know ahead of time, they can arrange for someone to drop them off and then go park.  If you can do a voucher thing, great - but if not, I don't think it's a big deal.

mandysmear

I don't think it's necessary for you to pay for parking.  Sure, people shouldn't have to open their wallets to go to your wedding is a common opinion.  But, it's no different than inviting an OOT guest who has to pay for flights and hotels.  If people are aware of the parking situation, then they can choose whether or not they want to incur that cost as a guest.

Bubbalub

We are in the same boat re: parking. Most likely we are going to indicate on an enclosure card/our website (whenever we get around to making one) where the parking garages are located and where free street parking is located, along with public transit as some people will be able to BART to our location.

I think if you let people know in advance about the parking situation that it is fine. The real problem comes when people don't know they may need to pay and arrive without cash in their wallet.

lyndausvi

I personally do not have a problem with paying for parking.  Sure it would be nice, but having lived in a city before, paying for parking is a normal expense.  Not unlike having to pay tolls on certain highways.

Now I would give a side-eye if it was your venue who was charging for the parking. 

Just Jen

hire a valet service. That's what we were going to do when we were considering a city-ish venue.

cellarius

i think it's fine. it's not like it's gonna be much. my sister's wedding was in a state park so you had to pay but no one minded a bit.  

cellarius

i agree put a card in the invite or send ppl a mesg with a list of the parking areas & where the're located. that way it's up to them & not on you at all. they can decide if they'd rather walk or pay lol

BuildABride

Can you enclose something in the invitation about the free and pay parking options? I'm in the same situation as you, and in my invites one of the enclosures will address the parking situation.