Spin-Off of Invitation Thread - Destination Weddings

[dvcgirl67]

We had a destination wedding and kept it very small. We invited sixty people and we had fifty-two attend. So we kept to close family and friends. I was 30, my husband was 29 and so we were adults making a nice living by then. There were a couple of family members on either side who were struggling financially at that time and so we paid for their airfare and hotel. We requested no gifts and we didn't have bridal shower/bachelor or bachelorette parties. We kept it as simple as possible.

We were old enough...mature enough I suppose, to understand that not everyone would be able to make it if we planned a destination wedding. I have however known some other couples who planned destination weddings who got out of sorts when everyone didn't attend. I think that's silly....but it's not surprising. A lot of emotions around weddings.

 

[_19disnA]

Perhaps some have a different sort of relationship with their financial planner then has been my experience. I would consider it tacky if my financial planner invited his clients to a child's wedding. Having a professional working relationship doesn't mean you become members of their social circle.

 

[easyas123]

I think you need to consider who are the most important people you want to be there, and the best way to make it possible, so that you, and they, won’t be disappointed.

Agreed.

 

[megsters]

We got married at Disney World. I can't remember how many we invited probably under 20. We had 15, including us. My immediate family, his brother, a handful of friends.

We were very aware we chose what we wanted, and had zero expectation of anyone coming. We worked to make it as cheap as possible, and paid for a lot ourselves.

My husband's extended family gave us such grief about it, that we chose to also have an at home reception. Tacos and Tequila themed in the spring. They added extra people to their RSVP, which I didn't make a fuss over and paid for- only for a mass group of them to not show up.

Almost 10 years later, I do not regret our wedding choices. I regret the at-home reception.

We did stream our wedding though.

 

[tzolkin]

Too me its not just the money it's the time off work. Some people get very few holidays and to expect them to use a week to attend seems a bit selfish.

I think now most people have to travel to go to any wedding (all our family live quite a distance away), so it would be the same amount of time off work to attend a destination wedding in the Caribbean than it would to attend a "hometown" wedding in New York or California.

I know not everyone feels the same way, but I didn't "expect" anyone to come to my wedding. I know people are busy and have their own work and family obligations. I would not have been offended at all if anyone was unable or even simply didn't want to attend.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I think now most people have to travel to go to any wedding (all our family live quite a distance away), so it would be the same amount of time off work to attend a destination wedding in the Caribbean than it would to attend a "hometown" wedding in New York or California.

I know not everyone feels the same way, but I didn't "expect" anyone to come to my wedding. I know people are busy and have their own work and family obligations. I would not have been offended at all if anyone was unable or even simply didn't want to attend.

I guess that is true depending on the distance.

 

[prairie_girl]

No destination wedding invites for me, but I did travel to Toronto last year for my youngest brothers wedding. We stayed for five days but there was nothing tropical about it lol

 

[Turn the Page]

We got married in WDW and being from Michigan, it would be considered a destination wedding.

We wanted to keep it very small and if we had it locally it would have spiraled out of control very fast. We invited our parents and siblings (we each only have one) and that was it. It was a grand total of 11 people.

My brother didn't come but his sister did and complained about it for months leading up to the wedding. She insisted on driving because she "has to be able to move her knee." So you won't fly on a plane for 2 1/2 hours but you'll take a 24 hour road trip. Ok. They wanted to stay at a cabin in a camp ground which, fine. They wouldn't stay at Ft Wilderness because it was too expesive. Again, fine. She then said they wouldn't stay at a campground in the Orlando area because that was also too expesive. Um, what? Then she very excitedly told me she found a campground....in Talahassee. From the get go she said they were coming in the day before the wedding and leaving the day after because nobody could take a whole week off work of school. Ok, totally understandable. Then they decided to drive down with my MIL and FIL and suddenly everybody could take a whole week off work and school so they could spend 4 days in the Smokey Mountains on the way back.

If you don't want to go that bad then just don't come. It's really ok. But if you're going to come, then stop complaining about it.