Hi all! New to the boards, but looking for some advice. My fiancé and I are getting married in a year in Belize and while planning the wedding itself has been fun and rather easy, the idea of having an at home reception is quickly becoming overwhelming. Partly it's hard for us to find a relatively inexpensive place for 100 people outside the DC area.
Also since we're getting married in November 2015, we want to avoid having the reception during the holidays, so we'd look at having the reception in Jan/Feb. It almost feels too long after our actual wedding but at the same time we'd want pictures and our video to be there.
Lastly (mainly), we feel like we're asking a few close friends and family to travel pretty far and spend some serious cash to spend our wedding with us, only to turn around and have a local party a few months later. It kind of sounds a little selfish. Well maybe that's just us thinking that. Plus the idea of spending around $5000 on top of our wedding (and thats for a REALLY cheap reception) seems like it defeats the purpose of getting away.
What are your thoughts? Did having an at-home reception really warrant the cost? I'd love to celebrate with friends and extended family we're not inviting, but not sure it's worth such an expensive price tag.