Sorry in advance for how long this is!
My fiancé is from Santa Rosa, California and just about all his family in friends either live there or within an hour's drive. We also both live there now. I am from Laguna Beach, California (a nine hour drive from Santa Rosa), and my immediate family still lives there. I also have close friends and more distant family scattered all over the country. So here's where things get a little more complicated:
My fiancé's parents have offered to let us use their home (where my fiancé grew up), a lovely 12 acre ranch in the outskirts of Santa Rosa, as our venue. We are both recently out of college, and this would be an inexpensive option for a rustic and homey event. We are most likely going with it for our ceremony and reception.
Our wedding will not be until spring or summer of 2017, and my immediate family and best friends will of course be there. However, I don't envision many of my distant family being willing or able to travel for the wedding, mostly due to expenses (even with the long notice), and we are likely to end up with a big wedding that is mostly his family and friends.
We have already discussed this, and we are both a little bit at a loss for what would be the best option. Has anyone else ran into a similar problem? Would going through with the inexpensive venue be best, even under these circumstances? Is there anything I can do to better accommodate my out of town relatives and friends?