To have wedding in Seattle or where all the family is??

Hramse03

Hellloo Board!!!

I just moved to Seattle this past April and my FI and I would absolutely love to get married here and celebrate the whole wedding in Seattle but the entire family for both of us is in Michigan and Ohio along with the BP and friends. SO the guest list is about 150 total. Is it worth it to have the wedding in Seattle and have everyone fly out or should I give in and start planning for Ohio or Michigan? Which means I would have to plan from here and pray that it turns out how i want bc i cant afford to fly back and forth all the time. I feel so lost and dont want to have the wedding in Seattle and have everyone decline my invite but dont want to plan a wedding for ohio or michigan and not see everything right away. or how do i bring things to ohio that i find here for the wedding and so on and so forth HELP!!!! please

Altoclef14

We ran into a similar challenge when deciding where to have our wedding-- my family is mainly in Massachusetts (large extended family too) while he has a smaller family in WA.  We decided to have it here in Seattle because that's where our memories are, and we're excited to introduce family and friends to the area.  Our website reads like a tour book to the area.  We recognize that not everyone will be able to fly out and aren't assuming who will come and who won't.  We have, however, been working professionally in the area for five years or so, so we do have a fair number of work friends (and college friends) who are already here.  That might be different than your case.  My whole side of the bridal party, though, is from out of town.  In the end I think it will be easier on us.  

firsttimersluck

We also ran into a similar situation.
We are a military couple stationed here in Washington and wasn't sure what to do about the wedding. We started planning it for his hometown in TN, but quickly changed when we realized we couldn't handle that kind of long distance stress. I think it can work well if you have a group of people that you are POSITIVE you can rely on for help, but you will be surprised how many peope say they WANT to help,and don't.
We decided on Seattle because of Fi's work schedule as well, but we are SO SO happy we made the call to have the wedding here. Some people can't come, but we gave enough notice that most are and everyone seems to be excited to come see a new place for a mini vacation.

Larzhope is a Seattle bride that actually planned a wedding back east for her family and friends and didn't stress too much. She is a success story in that aspect (although she isn't a poster on the WA-SEA or WA board at all.) It can be done.. I think you will want to weight the odds..
How tight is your budget? I would ask us what our vendors are running us to get an idea of how much it costs to do a wedding here, and ask the local board of Ohio to see what they say.. Then maybe you can consider the financial aspect as well.

Hramse03

thanks ladies