Hey outdoor brides, I've got a question for you.

[Slue-Foot Sue]

I apologize if this topic has already been covered somewhere, I did not find it. For those of you with wonderful backyard or outdoor receptions:

What on earth did you do about parking?

I like the feeling of it, and I like the sort of money saving aspect if that is not just a false assumption. But really, what did you with all the cars? If this was a problem, did your solution to this problem end up costing you quite a bit of money?

[*MAR*]

Our wedding ceremony was along the river, in the city, virtually no parking. We had everyone invited co-ordinate rides together.

For our second reception, which was outside, and at DH's aunt's home, they talked to all the neighbors and utilized their driveways and the street. This will only work if you like and get along with your neighbors.

I have heard of people asking a local business to "rent" their parking lot, then run shuttles back and forth every hour or so. This is do-able with a willing cousin and a mini-van if you want to think economically.

[Slue-Foot Sue]

Thank you for your help, *MAR*. I like the neighbors idea, and I wonder if I can get that to work.

I was trying to have an outdoor reception at my folks place. They have about 5 acres of land in the country, or it was the country when they bought it but now its rapidly "developing"      Anyway, there is plenty of space on their plot of land where they are building their house (by themselves with their bare hands, crafty house-building parents.)

The problem I am faced with is that I don't want to tear up the place that will soon be their home by having people park all over it in uncertain moisture conditions. For someone who lives in the country, my mother has made the odd choice of keeping 4 of the 5 acres as a pristinely kept and mowed lawn, much to the dissapointment of my dad and gophers.

So if I can get some neighbors to allow us to use their land/road/driveways, that could be nice. Atleast two of the neighbors are close enough to us to be invited, but the proximity may be tricky with each of these people owning land. It might be too far for the guests to walk in nice shoes. I suppose that's what invites/wedding webistes are for, to tell guests to bring some comfortable walking shoes! And really old people can have a special parking pass to park right at the reception site. This is starting to look do-able again.

I have this problem wherein I have to (well, want to, nobody is twisting my arm) invite a ton of Lousiana cousins and I don't know how many will come. It seems like a lot of the really great outdoor weddings I have seen on this site and others had 50 people or less. I unfortunately cannot know if I will be in the 50 range or the 100 range (I really really hope its not more than that) because I don't know how many of them are willing to make the trip (to Texas, some are quite lazy.)

I have this thing where I don't want to inconvenience anyone, like my parents by having their land torn up by cars or by asking a cousin to spend to whole reception driving people around in a van. I know I can't do this all on my own and everyone says you have to ask for help. I just haven't figured out a way to ask people for the kind of help I feel will detract from their enjoyment of the party. They are guests afterall, no matter how closely related and I don't want to burden them.

[*MAR*]

If you HAVE to utilize their nice land to park on, you may use the age old trick of covering the grassy parking area with straw, to protect it. It really does help keep the area from getting torn up, as long as the conditions aren't terribly wet. And it isn't hard to clean up, just a rake, and time!

If you combine that, with asking people to carpool, and using willing neighbor's drives, you should be okay. We had our 2nd reception in similar situation to yours. We had a huge outdoor space at DH's aunt's home to put a tent and use a pole barn, and we probably had a couple hundred people there, and no one had to park on the lawn! Good luck.

[rhettsmommy]

We also are having an ourdoor/backyard wedding/reception (our friends home).  Luckily they have a little 1 acre pasture/field that we will use as a parking lot.  Any neighbors with this type of situation you could utilize? 

I know you are worried about not burdening anyone, but your parents have volunteered their home, and I'm assuming they are supportive of your wedding and wishes.  Have you talked to them about your concerns?  It seems to me I've struggled with many things throughout this process, and with just a little communication, everything somehow worked itself out. 

Straw idea is good too.  We are going to have a golf cart with a little trailer to cart around the older people.  I went to a wedding once, where they had everyone park in a hay field across the road and had a tractor with a trailer go around and pick everone up and drop them off at the ceremony.  It was great for the "outdoors" atmosphere. 

Sorry, I'm rambling, hope some of this helps.

[ABAm517]

ok, not that helpful:
our wedding is at a formal garden so most of parking lot should cover it. ( but i guess i should check)  Good luck figuring everything out.  I'm sure you could make the whole situation into more fun, like with the golf cart and trailer or decorations on the walk up, maybe even pictures of the two of you, and cute signs that say, keep coming,  or such.

[Slue-Foot Sue]

Thank you to all three of you for your helpful input. I really like the golf cart for old people idea. We don't have one, but we do have a tractor so that might work. I also love the idea of encouraging signs along the way(in the event that its a pretty long trek).

[rhettsmommy]

I like the sign idea too.  May have to do some!

[morbidlovexox]

I'm also having an out door wedding at my parents house, but we have a really tiney guest list so I think car pooling will remedy that problem. if not check out a shuttle service (if your town has an airport it would be super easy to find one) to see if they would shuttle people to and from the hotel or a designated parking lot to your wedding.