Distance problems

synonymforbeauty91

My fiance and I both have big families. The only problem is that my whole family lives in Central Florida, while the majority of his family lives in Michigan. We're trying to figure out the best way to do this. Maybe a wedding in Florida and a large reception in Michigan? Any suggestions??

opalsky007

Don't have a second reception. You should probably just have the wedding where the two of you live now, or pick some other neutral site. This sounds like an ideal situation for a destination wedding.

[Deleted User]

Ditto opalsky. Is traveling a problem for the guests? Where do you live now?

LesPaul

Where do you live?  Is there an attachment to a venue (childhood church, etc) in either family location?  Or, agree w/ Opal that a DW might be fun for all.  I would ask the families for some input.

Reynoldsmom312

I think you need to choose a location for you and your FI and not worry about the logistics of families' locations. If people truly want to celebrate your big day with you, they will come to whatever location you choose. Good luck!

IrishBrideND

We both have big faimilies. My family was from FL, his was from PA. We ended up getting married in IN, but if we hadn't , we would have married in FL. No multiple receptions. People were willing to travel. Will your big families not travel?

lyndausvi

Who is paying? Where do you live? Is there somewhere neutral you can pick? All that said, I do not have a problem with having the wedding FL and something back in MI.  I would not have a formal reception though.  I would just have a causal get together.    

lyndausvi

oh I forgot.  We picked a neutral location.

scoetto

We have family all over the US and they all flew in for the reception. Have the wedding where you want but give ample notice to the guests who will need to travel.

[Deleted User]

IS one family more likely to travel then the other? I'm from Philadelphia and FI is English, his family is flying to PA. My family is bigger then FI's and his family has a bit more money to travel.

tmm140

I would get married where you live and have family travel. We are in MD and had people from PA, NY, and CA all come to Maryland for our wedding. It's an important day and people will be willing to travel--especially close family.

aimerzkd214

I agree to just have your wedding where you live, people will come. For those people who can't make it you could just go for a visit to see them after the wedding. That is what we will probably do. Fi is from a military family and has relatives all over the US and a lot of them probably won't make it and since I have never met some of them then we will go to some of them after we are married.

ExpatPumpkin

Sounds like a good DW candidate That's what we did - for the same reasons you described, plus the fact that we were in an LDR, so not even we had a common town...

sucrets4

I'm from NY, DH is from MI.  We got married in NY, but most of his family didn't travel.ILs threw us a casual backyard 'reception' a few weeks later.  She also invited people that weren't invited to the wedding, but that's neither here nor there.  But it was THEIR choice to do that for us and not something that we hosted.

squirrly

I'm from Kentucky and FI is from Boston.  We're currently living in KY and will have the wedding here - easier to plan, and some of my family wouldn't be able to travel for medical reasons.  We don't have any plans for a party in Boston.  Pick the location that is most convenient for you & makes the most sense for your guests, and go with it. 

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

Do you have your heart set on a huge wedding? If so, Florida might be a good choice. Are you only inviting immediate family, aunts, uncles and first cousins? If so, it seems to not matter where you have it.I'm from upstate New York, FI is from Boston. We have family in Utah, Missouri, and Iowa, and friends in other places as well. We're getting married in Los Angeles, where we live. (Keep in mind it's usually much easier to plan a wedding in the place you live so you can meet with vendors and see venues in person.) HTH.

synonymforbeauty91

Thank you all this really helped!