Fiance & I talked and while we want to assist in paying for things for our family members, we really can't afford to pay for everything. We have tossed around the idea of buying a $500 gift certificate for the airports my parents and his mom & sister would be flying out of to assist with their travel costs, but right there, it's $2000 of our budget gone! So I suggested maybe $500 to my parents and $500 to his mom. Is that fare? His sister, with enough notice (which she will get) will be able to afford to fly. We don't want to put people in an awkward spot, financially though.
We've also talked about paying for the rooms for his mom & sister (1 room) and my parents (1 room). Depending on prices, we'd likely be at a B&B or a hotel (my preference). If we can book a block of rooms, we can likely get a discount, but it's still going to cost us about $1300 for hotel rooms for them.
Is it too much? Are we spending too much on our guests. It's our wedding, and while I'd love to have them all there, we can't afford to spend half plus of our budget on guests transportation and lodging. What do you guys do? What are the etiquette rules? My parents are retired & his mom are both retired, so I'm not sure what they can afford, but this is our dream wedding!
We've also tossed around the idea of doing large guest favors (ie. a basket upon arrival with various things, touristy stuff, and 1-2 passes for tours). Is that too much? Could we get away with doing better guest favors (i.e. include certificates for dining), instead of footing the massive bill of flights and/or hotels?
I need some insight!