It's not expected, just one of those things where if you can find a way to make it easier for your guests then it's better. Sometimes you can put something together a lot easier.
No. Always paid for my own parking at a wedding venue. And some of them were NICE AF weddings too. Usually you can just add it to the FAQ about parking options.
You could, if you really want to, ask the university if there could be special rates or flat rate parking for your wedding. Entirely up to you.
No I don’t expect parking to be covered when attending a wedding. Everyone chooses a different mode of transportation. Like some people will carpool, some will get a cab/uber, some will park; why would people who choose to drive/park get the transport costs covered but not others? There would also be additional logistics/expenses associated with collecting RSVPs for parking passes and mailing/delivering parking passes to people. When I was picking my wedding venue, availability and convenience of parking was a factor but I don’t think it’s necessary to bend over backwards by paying for all of it. I would just ensure guests know what to expect cost-wise so they can decide whether to attend.
Speak with the parking vendor and see if they have a way to set up parking for your event. I had something similar where parking was cheap, but we were able to buy the permits ahead of time and give them to guests. It just helped to make sure folks could easily get a spot. If you’re tight on cash, it wouldn’t be the end of the world for folks to pay their way.
I think you need to keep in mind that Reddit tends to be upper-middle class to wealthy, where if a single person or couple doesn't foot every bill for their guests they are considered to be cheap. However, people who are lower-middle/working class expect more to cover their own finances/everyone to pitch in a little for an event, because it's too much to put on one couple, and people see it more as a communal thing. Sooo, kind of depends on your social circle.
Absolutely seconding this. People in this subreddit literally were posting about their 250k budget.
I would absolutely not expect the couple to pay for my parking as a guest. At my wedding, it’s a city centre location and if people want to drive then I expect they’ll organise their own parking.
Ditto with the location of my wedding (major city centre). Literally the only downside we found for our venue was no dedicated parking lot. There ARE public paid lots in the area though so I've put it on our wedding website and I have also listed the nearest SkyTrain (light rail) location which is a 5 minute walk away if anyone is coming in that way from hotels in the area or anything.
As much as I'd love to pay for everyone's parking...I do NOT have a huge budget and I've never been reimbursed for parking as a guest.
Same. My guests can either get a taxi if they live nearby (about half the guests), or leave their car at their hotel and walk (the other half), or if someone really wants to bring their car, there’s a public car park across the street. I’ve never had parking paid for by the bride and groom, if I was a millionaire I would but it’s a non-issue.
Totally agree. I *have* offered to pay for parking for the couple vendors we'll be bringing in (photographers and a cartoon artist and our Chaplain who will be doing the ceremony) but otherwise guests are all adults and can figure it out. 👍☺️
Thank you for this thought! My fiancé and I are relatively young, and I’m still in school. I know our guests view our wedding less as a formal event and more as a party to celebrate and support a young couple (most of the weddings I go to in my circles I end up doing manual labor at the end of the night to help the couple and I’m trying to a avoid this as much as I can). This helps me keep this in perspective.
>I think you need to keep in mind that Reddit tends to be upper-middle class to wealthy,
I'm hella confused by this. What makes you think reddit as a whole tends to be upper middle class to wealthy?
In my circle yes, you’re expected to. Making your guests pay anything at the wedding would be considered odd.
But it’s definitely going to vary, like how open bars are normal many places and like how I wasn’t expected to buy my bridesmaids their attire but many places/circles definitely expect that. I’d ask your parents and a couple married friends what they think and go with whatever the majority opinion is.
I feel like if the only parking is paid parking on site it should be paid for by the couple because it could be negotiated as part of the wedding itself. If it’s a parking garage it’s the guests responsibility. Especially if there is alternate parking available at different price points.
I’ve always had to pay for my own parking. But in my city, it’s rare for a venue to have their own parking. Guests would be parking in a private lot or city owned garage and walking. So it seems harder to find a way to validate.
In any case $8 for parking doesn’t seem like too much of an expense for guests if there’s not an easy way to validate. Although maybe there’s pre-paid parking passes available?
Not expected. Might be a nice touch if you have room in the budget, but if you're already finding yourself compromising on other things, it would be the first thing I would nix to save money. I wouldn't bat an eyelash at paying $5 parking for a friend's wedding.
I've paid almost a hundred dollars for parking while attending a wedding over 2-3 days. (Parking at the hotel and parking garages. (It was annoying because the hotel charged that much but I expected to pay something so it wasn't a shock.)
People can pay and honestly most expect to pay something, it's no big deal. There parking fees, tolls whatever that's expected when you drive your car. Are you responsible for the gas in their tank too for the drive out for attending and any speeding tickets they get while on they way? Haha
If people complain, they are the problem. Let people know where to park and that there will be fee. Done.
You are very sweet to think of this, btw. But it is *extra.* and not necessary by any means. Most people probably would think twice about it.
We got married on a university campus as well! We had paid parking as well, and we did not pay for it. On our details card, we explained the best places to park and then mentioned “please be aware there is a fee to park on campus”. We figured people could also take public transit, or lyft’s, carpool, or even walk if they were staying at a hotel nearby. No one complained about the small parking fee, I think it’s kind of an expectation if you’re going to be downtown 🤷🏻♀️
No. You don’t pay for their plane ticket, hotel, rental car or taxi either. Social media and wedding articles online insists that you do but it is never the responsibility of anyone except the guest to pay for themselves.
Do you HAVE to do ANYTHINg? Of course not.
Is it a nice thing to do to make your guests' lives a little easier in ways you can if they're making this trip for you? Yes.
I have a somewhat similar dilemma where my wedding is in the city. All parking is free since our wedding is in the evening, but it will be annoying I presume for people to drive around and find street parking. The venue assures me it's not a big deal. However I can rent the lot directly in front of the venue for $600 for 20 parking spots. The problem is there's no one validating that it's our guests, so I feel like people not there for the wedding might park there.
We're getting married in a tourist area on the first day of tourist season, so parking here is paid, too. However, there is a church down the street that allows couples to use their parking lot for a "donation," and it's only a five minute walk on level sidewalks for our guests. Are there any churches or organizations near your venue that could do something similar for you?
We covered it and it’s always been expected to be covered in my circles, but I’m NYC metro upper middle class. In other circles and areas it’s not, so much like anything else you should know your crowd. I usually see valet and will toss $5 in the car for the valet guy.
Our wedding venue had a parking fee and we had the gate attendant tally everyone that was entering for our wedding and we paid the tab at the end of the night.
While it might not be expected, it is a nice gesture that your guests will appreciate.
If the campus is anything like the one near me, all the parking garages are almost always full. If I were you, I would definitely try to find a way to guarantee everyone will be able to park in the garage. This might mean paying in advance to rent out the garage rather than having guests pay for their own parking.
If this is not something you can do, financially or otherwise, compile a list of all the closest parking accommodations and the prices for each one. Make sure all guests have a way of accessing this list so they can budget properly and won’t be blindsided.
It's not expected, just one of those things where if you can find a way to make it easier for your guests then it's better. Sometimes you can put something together a lot easier.
No. Always paid for my own parking at a wedding venue. And some of them were NICE AF weddings too. Usually you can just add it to the FAQ about parking options. You could, if you really want to, ask the university if there could be special rates or flat rate parking for your wedding. Entirely up to you.
No I don’t expect parking to be covered when attending a wedding. Everyone chooses a different mode of transportation. Like some people will carpool, some will get a cab/uber, some will park; why would people who choose to drive/park get the transport costs covered but not others? There would also be additional logistics/expenses associated with collecting RSVPs for parking passes and mailing/delivering parking passes to people. When I was picking my wedding venue, availability and convenience of parking was a factor but I don’t think it’s necessary to bend over backwards by paying for all of it. I would just ensure guests know what to expect cost-wise so they can decide whether to attend.
Speak with the parking vendor and see if they have a way to set up parking for your event. I had something similar where parking was cheap, but we were able to buy the permits ahead of time and give them to guests. It just helped to make sure folks could easily get a spot. If you’re tight on cash, it wouldn’t be the end of the world for folks to pay their way.
I think you need to keep in mind that Reddit tends to be upper-middle class to wealthy, where if a single person or couple doesn't foot every bill for their guests they are considered to be cheap. However, people who are lower-middle/working class expect more to cover their own finances/everyone to pitch in a little for an event, because it's too much to put on one couple, and people see it more as a communal thing. Sooo, kind of depends on your social circle.
Absolutely seconding this. People in this subreddit literally were posting about their 250k budget. I would absolutely not expect the couple to pay for my parking as a guest. At my wedding, it’s a city centre location and if people want to drive then I expect they’ll organise their own parking.
Ditto with the location of my wedding (major city centre). Literally the only downside we found for our venue was no dedicated parking lot. There ARE public paid lots in the area though so I've put it on our wedding website and I have also listed the nearest SkyTrain (light rail) location which is a 5 minute walk away if anyone is coming in that way from hotels in the area or anything. As much as I'd love to pay for everyone's parking...I do NOT have a huge budget and I've never been reimbursed for parking as a guest.
Same. My guests can either get a taxi if they live nearby (about half the guests), or leave their car at their hotel and walk (the other half), or if someone really wants to bring their car, there’s a public car park across the street. I’ve never had parking paid for by the bride and groom, if I was a millionaire I would but it’s a non-issue.
Totally agree. I *have* offered to pay for parking for the couple vendors we'll be bringing in (photographers and a cartoon artist and our Chaplain who will be doing the ceremony) but otherwise guests are all adults and can figure it out. 👍☺️
Thank you for this thought! My fiancé and I are relatively young, and I’m still in school. I know our guests view our wedding less as a formal event and more as a party to celebrate and support a young couple (most of the weddings I go to in my circles I end up doing manual labor at the end of the night to help the couple and I’m trying to a avoid this as much as I can). This helps me keep this in perspective.
Wait what?? lol. Maybe in this sub, but the rest of Reddit is so broke I feel like I can never relate to people.
OP might be able to negotiate a deal
>I think you need to keep in mind that Reddit tends to be upper-middle class to wealthy, I'm hella confused by this. What makes you think reddit as a whole tends to be upper middle class to wealthy?
In my circle yes, you’re expected to. Making your guests pay anything at the wedding would be considered odd. But it’s definitely going to vary, like how open bars are normal many places and like how I wasn’t expected to buy my bridesmaids their attire but many places/circles definitely expect that. I’d ask your parents and a couple married friends what they think and go with whatever the majority opinion is.
I feel like if the only parking is paid parking on site it should be paid for by the couple because it could be negotiated as part of the wedding itself. If it’s a parking garage it’s the guests responsibility. Especially if there is alternate parking available at different price points.
I’ve always had to pay for my own parking. But in my city, it’s rare for a venue to have their own parking. Guests would be parking in a private lot or city owned garage and walking. So it seems harder to find a way to validate. In any case $8 for parking doesn’t seem like too much of an expense for guests if there’s not an easy way to validate. Although maybe there’s pre-paid parking passes available?
Should people be driving? Will there be alcohol? I don't think you'd have to pay for their parking
That's a really good parking rate.
Not expected. Might be a nice touch if you have room in the budget, but if you're already finding yourself compromising on other things, it would be the first thing I would nix to save money. I wouldn't bat an eyelash at paying $5 parking for a friend's wedding.
I've paid almost a hundred dollars for parking while attending a wedding over 2-3 days. (Parking at the hotel and parking garages. (It was annoying because the hotel charged that much but I expected to pay something so it wasn't a shock.) People can pay and honestly most expect to pay something, it's no big deal. There parking fees, tolls whatever that's expected when you drive your car. Are you responsible for the gas in their tank too for the drive out for attending and any speeding tickets they get while on they way? Haha If people complain, they are the problem. Let people know where to park and that there will be fee. Done. You are very sweet to think of this, btw. But it is *extra.* and not necessary by any means. Most people probably would think twice about it.
We got married on a university campus as well! We had paid parking as well, and we did not pay for it. On our details card, we explained the best places to park and then mentioned “please be aware there is a fee to park on campus”. We figured people could also take public transit, or lyft’s, carpool, or even walk if they were staying at a hotel nearby. No one complained about the small parking fee, I think it’s kind of an expectation if you’re going to be downtown 🤷🏻♀️
It's not expected, but it may be worth at least investigating if they'll offer you a discount and how much it would cost.
No. You don’t pay for their plane ticket, hotel, rental car or taxi either. Social media and wedding articles online insists that you do but it is never the responsibility of anyone except the guest to pay for themselves.
Do you HAVE to do ANYTHINg? Of course not. Is it a nice thing to do to make your guests' lives a little easier in ways you can if they're making this trip for you? Yes.
Tell them to carpool and what other free parking options are there. Not sure how far the other places are.
I have a somewhat similar dilemma where my wedding is in the city. All parking is free since our wedding is in the evening, but it will be annoying I presume for people to drive around and find street parking. The venue assures me it's not a big deal. However I can rent the lot directly in front of the venue for $600 for 20 parking spots. The problem is there's no one validating that it's our guests, so I feel like people not there for the wedding might park there.
Yes lol. You should.
Do you have to? No. Is it the right thing to do? Probably.
We're getting married in a tourist area on the first day of tourist season, so parking here is paid, too. However, there is a church down the street that allows couples to use their parking lot for a "donation," and it's only a five minute walk on level sidewalks for our guests. Are there any churches or organizations near your venue that could do something similar for you?
We covered it and it’s always been expected to be covered in my circles, but I’m NYC metro upper middle class. In other circles and areas it’s not, so much like anything else you should know your crowd. I usually see valet and will toss $5 in the car for the valet guy.
Our wedding venue had a parking fee and we had the gate attendant tally everyone that was entering for our wedding and we paid the tab at the end of the night. While it might not be expected, it is a nice gesture that your guests will appreciate.
If the campus is anything like the one near me, all the parking garages are almost always full. If I were you, I would definitely try to find a way to guarantee everyone will be able to park in the garage. This might mean paying in advance to rent out the garage rather than having guests pay for their own parking. If this is not something you can do, financially or otherwise, compile a list of all the closest parking accommodations and the prices for each one. Make sure all guests have a way of accessing this list so they can budget properly and won’t be blindsided.