Hi wonderful knotties,
This is kind of random, but I was just curious what other people thought. Or perhaps I just needed some support. My wedding will be one state over, around five hours away and will also be in the summer. I am getting married in Wisconsin, which you may know is not a tropical hot spot. Pretty much all of my extended family is there, including my aunts and uncles, cousins, and grandparents which will take up about half of the guest list. Ever since I moved away in 6th grade, I have alwayin my heart of heartss wanted to get married there so that my extended family and especially my grandparents could be there. A major reason why we are getting married in Wisconsin is due to a large chunk of my family being there. If I did not know anyone in Wisconsin, I wouldn't want to get married there and would just do it where we live. I felt bad about making my friends and my FI's family and our friends drive five hours for a wedding so I told my FI we could get married here. Most of his extended family is from out of state, so they would have to travel anyway. However, he knew deep down that I wanted to have the wedding in Wisconsin so my family, especially my grandparents, could be there and was very insistent on it since he didn't want me to regret anything about our wedding day.
Anyway, most of my friends and family have been understanding and awesome about it, but I have also heard snide remarks about it being a destination wedding and thus too much of a burden for some people. I don't feel like this Wisconsin city is a destination that people usually flock to get married at. I get that some people won't be able to make it due to the traveling, cost, and possible time off of work and I completely understand. That makes total sense to me. I tried to make the time convenient by having the wedding on a Saturday at 4:30PM in the summer. Most of the guests won't have to fly to get there, although I know gas can be expensive too. I know that parking does not help in the grand scheme of the cost of traveling, but we sought out places that had free and available parking because I don't want to make my guests pay for parking after traveling all that way. I felt as though these remarks were more hurtful than in the usual manner that they could be said. I was also trying to patch things up with this friend and I just felt confused at the end of dinner. I felt like a horrible person for even wanting a wedding and bridesmaids despite drama within our group of friends instead of eloping. I am not doing anything schmancy fancy or over the top. Just something simple and elegant. We are getting married at a cute little chapel and then having the reception at a venue attached to a hotel. No pot-luck reception or anything like that. We are serving family style with chicken, potatoes and all that jazz with cupcakes for desert. We will be hosting beer and wine.
This is probably a weird question to ask, but does my wedding sound like it would be a burden to anyone? After that dinner, I can't help but always think of the inconvenience having a wedding will be for some of the guests. I have tried to think of little ways that I can ease the burden of travel for my guests, such as free parking.
If you have made it this far, thanks for reading!