Jamie Wolfer says charging a $10 entry fee for a wedding hike isn't rude, but it's awkward. Reimburse guests via Venmo, cover it yourself, or explain why the canyon venue matters. Frame it as logistics, not a money grab.
Don't think that $10 in and of itself is an egregious wedding faux pas. Either Venmo people $10 and be like, hey, I know it's awkward, I know it's not the coolest thing, but we really love this hike and we want you to be a part of this moment. You could really do a lot of things, right? You understand it's a little weird to like pay $10, so like we will happily reimburse you if you just send me your Venmo. I'll send over right now. We just want to make sure that you're there and that you're present with us, and this hike, this particular canyon, is really important to us. And that's such a great way of kind of offsetting a little bit of the issues that you're running into. I will happily send everyone $10 this. It's not a big deal to me. I've already tried it with the park rangers, so if it's the $10 that's the issue, we've got it covered. If it's concept that's an issue, we value this location over the etiquette of paying an entry fee. So we're happy to navigate this, especially again because you're working with such a small group.
