I just got engaged about two weeks ago on a trip to Puerto Rico! The poor guy unknowingly had chips of paint all over his face when he was trying to do it. Me, not knowing what was going on at first, was a bit preoccupied by the paint, and so while my fiance was saying all these sweet things, I was trying to brush all the specks of black off him! Oops!
We're still mostly daydreaming at this point. We have an idea of when we want the wedding to be, but I'm entirely stumped about where to have it. I've moved around a bit, and so the way I see it there are three good places to get married:
City A: My hometown. I lived there for 18 years before going to college. My only family there are my mom and dad, and my MOH lives here as well as a few family friends, but not a ton of people I plan on inviting live here. I love the idea of returning to where I grew up to get married, but I want to make sure that a lot of people can make it to the wedding, and I know my mom, dad, and MOH will be there no matter what. Most of my family and hometown friends are scattered all over and will have to travel no matter where the wedding is. This city is a 5-6 hours drive from most of my fiance's family and many of our friends.
City B: My college town. I lived in this beautiful town for seven years, and it's where I met my fiance. It's also fairly centrally located for all of my fiance's family, not to mention a lot of our friends. It's only 5 hours away from my hometown, so it's not too difficult for people in City A to make it there.
City C: My current location. My fiance will be moving here in a few short months, too. This would be easiest for us, I think, because we could visit venues and meet with vendors much more easily here. I also plan on doing a fair bit of DIYing, so it would be easy to transport the things I make to wherever the ceremony and reception would be. I've also made some great friends here that (being in grad school) don't have a ton of money, and I'm sure it'd be hard for them to fit travel into their budget, so it'd be easier for them to attend in City C. The problem is that it is very far from both City A and City B (12 hours, if driving), and none of the rest of my family live that close, either, so almost all of our family and most of our friends would have to fly in.
I've thought on this a while and the decision isn't getting easier for me or my fiance to make. I could see having a beautiful wedding at all three places, but I'm trying to find the right balance of convenience and sentimentality while making sure that we can have the people we love attend. What would you do?
If you've lived in multiple cities, how did you decide where to have your wedding?