Venue parking issues

Honestly, (though this horse is outta the barn....) I don't know that I'd pick a place with zero parking and a lot of out of city guests. I think the Uber is a good idea, so is a shuttle (are a lot of people staying at a hotel?) and a valet service.

An info card is a good idea too: what are the other options? (I'm sorry, I'm not familiar at all with Chicago....) NYC is just as problematic, honestly. Most people either cab it. I actually had an officiant for a venue in Brooklyn that called me in a panic because even she couldn't park.

Everyone so far is staying at different hotels in the city.

Tell them to check SpotHero too on the info card. This is tough, I definitely wouldn't have chosen a venue that didn't offer my guests parking or easy access.

@Celia trust me, I wouldn't have picked this place either if I knew we'd have mostly OOT guests. FH decided to add extended family to the guest list after we booked the venue. It wasn't an issue at the time of booking.

I'll look into what SpotHero spots are nearby. Hopefully there are some.

What restaurant? There has to be a parking garage close. An uber, taxi or limo will cost those from the suburban areas between $75-$100 each way. My daughters wedding was in the Lincoln Park area and also had no parking, so we hired out a valet service for the cars and trolley's for the ride from the church to the reception.

Are there no parking garages? See if you can prepay or get an event discount at the nearest garage. I'm getting married in Manhattan, and guests are going to cab it, take the subway/PATH, and there will be a few drivers. We will arrange with the garage around the corner from our venue to get a discount (I already talked to them, and unfortunately, we won't make the vehicle count to let us just pay for everyone). We are also thinking of doing Uber/Lyft Events. There seems to be a lot of interest in our hotel block, so I think a lot of guests will just walk to our venue.

MrsWrs has a great point - although I would think that if one lives in the suburbs of Chicago, they'd have a much better idea than the OOT guests regarding the parking situation in the city. I can't imagine this is a problem only for the area your restaurant is in.

I'd come up with as many options as you can and arm your guests with as much info as you can so that way they can figure out what works best for them based on where they are staying

Uber would probably work best for your guests. I recently went to a friend's wedding in a different city and state. We used Uber to get to the venue and for the entire weekend.

Is there a hotel nearby that you could pay to have people park?

If your doing a room block for out of town guests speak with them first. They may allow you to have guests use their lot and then you can hire a shuttle

My cousin got married at the Chicago Cultural Center- she put on her info card with her invites that there was a discount for guests at a nearby garage. I think her coordinator handed out the vouchers at the wedding, but I'm not sure as we took the shuttle from the hotel. Not ideal since guests will still have to pay, but seeing as you already have your venue it may be worth checking with the nearest garages.

It's been a while since I've lived in the Chicago area, but couldn't your local friends from the suburbs take the metro to Union Station and then take an Uber to your restaurant?

Include a link to Parkopedia- you can enter the venue address and the date and time of your wedding to see all available street and lot parking

https://en.parkopedia.com/parking/chicago/

I'd try to find (and pay for) shuttle service from every hotel or a bunch of parking spaces at a nearby (within walking distance) garage. I'm not of fan of partially paid for parking at a hosted event, and, as a guest, the lack of parking would be an issue for me.

Thankfully the venue just got back to me again and is offering valet for a fee. They normally don't have it available in the morning or for such a small event but they're working with me.

Thanks for the suggestions though everyone.