Indian weddings are known to be large, lavish affairs where hosts spare no effort to be hospitable to their guests. From hosted hotel rooms to hosted breakfasts, guests are treated throughout the celebration. And one thing couples ask me about when I work with them to help them find their venue, is hosted parking.

Most people want to host parking but they don’t know how it works. This guide is written for you and breaks down the various scenarios and things to consider.

First, some venues just have complimentary parking all the time. Other venues offer complimentary self parking as an amenity in their outside catering package.

For the venues that don’t offer complimentary parking, most couples need to know the rates for hosted self parking. Most couples don’t host valet parking for their guests unless the venue only has valet and doesn’t even offer a self parking option (as is the case with some resorts in Huntington Beach, South Orange County and LA).

The venues that do charge for parking, usually offer a discounted rate for hosted self parking. If it’s not hosted, which means your guests are going to pay, then they might not discount it, and your guests will pay the normal self parking day rate. Rates for parking vary across venues. In Southern California in general, I’ve seen parking range from $7 per car to $15 per car per day.

{How Does It Work?}

How venues keep tabs on the number of cars:

With hosted self parking the venue might just leave their gates open and not worry about the number of cars. Other venues will require an exit token/ticket.In that case you can ask your DJ to make an announcement to pick up those tokens/tickets from a designated area.  The tickets are sequentially numbered so you will know how many cars there were and the venue will charge your account accordingly. FYI, usually service charge and tax are not applied to parking fees.

With hosted valet parking, the valet person hands you a ticket, which is also numbered, so again you’ll know how many cars there were and your account will be charged accordingly.

{Wedding Day Schedule}

One thing to keep in mind, is what type of wedding day schedule you’re having. I hope you had a chance to read our article on Cost Saving Lunch Ideas. In that article, I detail the differences between having a wedding day with a big break in-between the wedding and reception vs. doing the ceremony>cocktail hour>reception back-to-back. The reason it’s important here is because when you have a time gap day, a lot of guests will leave the venue after the ceremony and come back again in the evening for the cocktail hour and reception. So, are you going to pay for parking twice?

Most venues only extend what’s called in-and-out privileges to overnight guests. But for special events like a wedding, they may be willing to work with you to either reduce the rate or only charge you once. Every venue will vary. By the way, you can find parking rate info on the Pricing tab on every venue profile on the ShaadiShop main website.

Sometimes a venue’s negotiating power with regards to parking is limited because the parking structure, employees, and that whole operation are owned by an outside company, not the venue.

{Hotel Room Block & Parking}

If you’re taking out a room block at a hotel which is also your wedding venue, the room block contract will be separate from the event contract. Your wedding and reception contract is handled by the Catering team and the room blocks are handled by the Sales team. Parking rates for guest rooms are different than the event rates. Overnight parking is usually higher. And while you and your family may host rooms, the general trend is that you don’t also pay for overnight parking. Parking falls into incidentals and usually guests are expected to pay for those themselves, even amongst guests whose rooms you’re paying for (hosting).

{Parking at Non-Hotel Venues}

What if you’re getting married at a non-hotel venue like a banquet hall, golf club or winery? At those types of venues parking works in a few different ways. Each venue’s parking policies will depend on where they’re located. Wineries and other venues that may have limited parking or where their parking lot is a bit far from the main event space, may require valet parking (for your and your guest’s sake). That means you have to hire a company that offers that service. Usually they’ll have a relationship with 1 or 2 companies to refer you to.

Many golf clubs and banquet halls have ample, complimentary parking. For those that don’t either they will charge a per car fee or you may have to bring in valet services.

On that note, another thing I’ve seen at several non-hotel venues is a requirement to hire a 1-2 security guards. The venue often employees them, so you won’t have to find people but I’ve seen several non-hotel/resort venues require this.

{Take Aways}

Most South Asian weddings have hosted self parking. If that’s a cost you want to avoid, you can refer to our main website to see the venues that offer complimentary parking or contact me and I’d be happy to help you with your venue search. Parking rates vary based on whether it’s for an event, overnight, and hosted. We’ve outlined the differences for you above as we don’t want you to be surprised with unexpected charges to your account.

I hope this guide helped you understand how parking works at wedding venues. They really try to work with you and don’t want it to become a barrier to booking.

Did this article help you? Let me know in the comments. And follow ShaadiShop on Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram so you can see our latest guides and tips.

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! 🙂

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ShaadiShop is a free service to help couples, planning an Indian or any South Asian wedding, find their wedding venue. We walk you through the whole process from discovery to booking. And, venues extend better pricing and amenities to our clients. Visit our main website or contact me to start your venue search today!

 

 

Cover image: Randery Imagery