Guest Excited for Farm Wedding Until They Get One Text: ‘$12 an Hour’
4 hours ago
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A guest who had planned to attend a farm wedding backed out after learning the bride’s parents wanted attendees to pay for parking by the hour, turning a celebration into an etiquette uproar online.
Reddit user wew_lad123 explained that the wedding was set to take place at the bride’s parents’ hobby farm, about three hours from the guest’s home city.
After RSVPing, the guest said they received a text saying parking at the farm would cost $12 an hour. Guests who wanted to camp overnight would also be charged a flat $30 for electricity and water.
‘Just crazy’
The original poster (OP) wrote that the camping fee did not matter to them because they were not staying over, but the parking charge felt like “nickel and dime” treatment.
In an update, the guest said they had already declined the invitation, telling the bride they could not make it because of concerns about fuel for the long rural drive.
“Oh yeah, we are definitely not going, haha,” the OP told Redditors.
“With fuel as expensive as it is these days anyway, a parking fee on top of a six-hour drive there and back is just crazy.”
Almost 600 comments staunchly backed the OP, such as the Redditor who wrote, “I would change my RSVP to no. I’ve got no tolerance for this kind of nonsense.”
‘Grifter farm’
Another suggested a neighboring property could undercut the charge, writing: “Look it up on a map, find the nearest neighbor and tell them about it.
“If I was the neighbor, I’d post a sign for $5 flat fee parking and shuttle them to the grifter farm.”
The dispute taps into a long-running question about what wedding guests should be expected to absorb.
According to Rinlong Flower, parking can shape guests’ memory of the entire event, especially when they are already dealing with travel, formalwear and unfamiliar venues.
The outlet wrote, “Guests already shelled out for gifts, travel and outfits. Making them pay to park feels like charging them an entrance fee to your relationship.”
The decision to skip the wedding also lines up with guidance on declining invitations after plans no longer make sense.
In an article for The Knot, Chapelle Johnson wrote, “No, it’s not rude to decline a wedding invitation.”
Johnson added that budget is one of the common reasons guests say no, noting the outlet’s internal study found the average wedding guest cost in 2023 was $580.
No Response
That context helps explain why a $12-an-hour parking fee drew such a strong reaction. For guests already facing a long drive, fuel costs and the usual wedding expenses, the extra charge landed less like logistics and more like a bill at the gate.
The OP replied to an inquiry in the thread that the bride-to-be said she, “understood and that she would hold the spot for us if the situation changed.
“I did ask gently if the parking fee was her idea, or her parents’, and she hasn’t responded to that.”
Newsweek has reached out to wew_lad123 for comment via Reddit. We could not verify the details of the case.
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