My fiance and I love and have booked a venue that is 2 hours from most of my family and 4 hours from his (we are a year out at this point). We're in Florida, doing the wedding in the Midwest so that we aren't asking about 70 close family members to fly, when some have flying issues.
We are financing this ourselves on a small budget, and found a beautiful venue in our range! It's a lovely space that met everything my fiance and I were looking for (in a natural area with indoors space) and reduces the work of an out-of-state wedding because it's beautiful without me having to haul a ton of DIY decorations up north to fill something like a conference room. We couldn't find anything like this closer than 4 hours- someone had to travel at least a couple hours regardless.
I'm so afraid I'm going to spend my the next year and my wedding day being demonized by family members- both mine and his. MY family has complained on behalf of HIS family- but I've heard no concerns from his side, and he says they'll be fine.
Do you think 4 hours is too far when there are so many great things about this place? I'm starting to reconsider asking them all to get themselves 1,000 miles to us and call it a day, or just elope already- but I know those are cop-out thoughts, when I really want this event to be special- both inclusive and fitting for us as a couple, which I thought this venue was going to accomplish beautifully. Are my close-but-uninvolved family members just using his family's 4 hour drive to indirectly complain about their own 2 hour drive?