Hey all,
My fiancee and I were recently invited to a big blow out wedding. She was
bridesmaid to the bride, and bride is bridesmaid in our upcoming wedding.
Let's call her Kate. Kate's parents are very big on entertaining, limit
Kate's friends, and invite the full families of all the groomsmen and
bridesmaids instead. FI's parents and siblings are invited, who
admittedly barely know Kate's parents beyond a "We used to chat a little
after we dropped you off at their house" type of thing. FI does not
feel especially close to them either.
Our wedding is a more intimate affair. Nobody in the bridal party's
parents are being invited (with the obvious exception of relatives).
Kate's parents went up to FI's family at the reception and mentioned that,
"We see Kate got her Save the Date, we are so excited to receive ours
given that our families will be at each other's weddings" type of thing,
thinly veiled threat. FI's parents felt threatened and embarrassed about
this "gaffe" on their part (both sets of our parents handed us a
list, very reasonable I might add, of "required" friends and Kate's
parents were in nobody's mind then) and have instructed us to take off two
close friends off the guest list for them, which unfortunately we did (they had
not yet received Save the Dates, thankfully).
Our question is this. The damage is done, but is there an implication
that if one family is invited to the wedding, the other's entire family must be
as well? Is this etiquette? We are drawing the line at parents (Kate has grown siblings).