Thursday, January 22, 2009

Parking

Because our wedding was at a home, we had limited space for parking on site. One of the many dilemmas of having a backyard wedding.

Since shuttles from hotels weren't in our budget, we decided to ask the elementary school just down the street from my parent's home if people could park there. Honestly, I wasn't very hopeful. I can't imagine that it's great for liability to have a bunch of people parking on school grounds who will be attending a big party. But my mom asked, and surprisingly they were totally fine with it. They even put it on their office calendar in case any teachers showed up that day and were alarmed by the number of cars in the lot.

(School bus photo via Elizabeth Anne Designs)

When we sent out the invitations they included a quick note about where to park and mentioned that those who couldn't make the short walk were welcome to park in my parent's driveway.

All in all this worked out well, and might be a good option for some of you having an at-home wedding (or really any wedding with no on-site parking and a large parking lot nearby that you know will be empty on weekends).

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

that is soo great! leave it to good ole' mom to help out. my mom would have done the same.

Kilee

Mariam said...

Hello
I am getting married in June in Gloucester Massachusetts in the backyard of my future in-laws. Like any outdoor even there are a few issues to consider...Rain we have a tent....then subject of mosquitoes came up. What do I do? How do I get the mosquitoes away from the guests? How did you take care of that problem at your wedding? Thanks!!!!
PS: I love your blog! Thanks for all the info. You wedding looked amazing.

Anonymous said...

Bugs can be taken care of with a good bug man or pest control service who comes and sprays the perimeter for bugs before the big day. Citronella tiki torches may also help keep the pests away but I would pay to have a bug man come and spray.

backyardwedding said...

Anon-That might work, but it wouldn't be very healthy! Paul runs a nonprofit that specifically works on anti-pesticide issues so I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have gone for that!

Suzanne said...

Do you happen to know what your mom said or how she asked the school? We are considering doing something very similar with a school near our wedding site, but I'm almost afraid to ask in fear they will say no!