Okay, I'm having so much trouble making this decision. Here's the deal:
We have been together for 2.5 years and are recently engaged. He is in the Marine Corps and just got relocated to Camp Pendleton, CA (Today was his first day). I will be moving out there to be with him at the end of June. We are looking at a date of July 2011 for our wedding.
His entire family lives in KY and my entire family live in NY except my mom and stepdad who live in Northern VT. We were considering our options:
1. New York - us, his family and my mom & stepdad would have to travel. I'm not sure I even want to have it in NY.
2. Kentucky - us and my entire family would have to travel. There are some really nice outdoor locations that are possibilities.
3. Somewhere in between NY and KY (VA is what comes to mind since we used to live there) - Everyone would have to travel, but it would be an equal distance for his family and the majority of my family.
[If we did it at any of the three above locations I would want to have an evening wedding outdoors with an outdoor reception into the night]
4. Destination (somewhere where we would consider having our honeymoon) - Everyone would have to travel, but it would be a considerable distance further than if we did it somewhere in between NY and KY.
The things that I am taking into consideration when making this decision are whether or not people would be able to afford to make the trip, wherever it may be. His family is not very wealthy and I think any type of travel would be a struggle for them so as far as they are concerned, KY would be the best option. I like the idea of the destination wedding but I go back and forth because some part of me (I think) wants to have a reception with a DJ and dancing into the night, etc. I would feel that I would be leaving people out if we chose a location that we KNEW not everyone would be able to go to but he says that it isn't a big deal to him if his family cannot attend. His brother got married last summer and his sister is also recently engaged.
Please help! All idea and advice are welcomed and appreciated. Thanks!