Question, is it just the two of you or a family affair?

I understand what you mean! There is no way we could spend that much money on a local wedding and the truth is I really don't want to have that many guests. I would rather it be just the two of us, but we are sure to disappoint our families that way. To make it so that we can have guests will costs us more money and I doubt that we will be making any money back by having a wedding!

We bought a home in May 2008, so we'd much rather put more money into our home than a wedding. We both work for financial institutions so we really need to be prudent in these times!

ours is a big family affair...I'm excited...I can't imagine it without everyone there with us. I know someone who did it the two of them only though, and she said it was so romantic...so do what makes you happy!

We are inviting close friends and family. Which is actually a lot more than I had thought it would be. My philosophy is that I'm very excited about those who can make it and for those who can't...I understand and will miss them but I'm not going to let it ruin the day.

Good luck!

I would say that you have to go with what your heart tells you. Your family is obviously very important, and if you want them to be part of the celebration, have a backyard BBQ with friends and family after you get home. If you wanted to spend the money, you could have a semi-formal wedding reception and wear your dress again.

We have decided that we are inviting family and close friends - a total of 60 guests or so. We have little hope that everyone can make it, but I have promised myself not to feel guilty or sad about those who wont be able to celebrate with us. We are renting out a park pavilion for a night about 1 month afterward to celebrate with all of those who weren't able to make it. It's a cheap way to host a celebration and still include everyone closest to you.

Good luck in making your decision!!

We are doing a very small informal wedding. We are inviting about 20 people and whomever can come, will. All of our guests are aware this is an "informal" wedding and that the normal wedding stuff is not taking place. We are keeping everything simple and with that our costs will be minimal. I will be purchasing something for my BM and his GM, and will be doing OOT bags, but other then that everything is up in the air.

So if you do choose having family, all you would really have to worry about would be your travel and wedding pkg costs. Stick with the most minimal wedding pkg bc why not? Your already paying for all your food and drinks, why pay more for some pkg deal? You can still have fun and not be so formal with a reception dinner in a ballroom or on the beach. Have dinner with everyone at one of the resort restuarants. That is at no extra cost. You dont have to pay for anyone's trip or excursions, or do any extras. Its your wedding and no one is going to be upset bc you didnt have decorations or centre peices, or OOT bags or whatever....if family is important - have them there. If your are as important to them as they are to you, then they wont care about all that extra "stuff", they will just be happy to be a part of your special day.

We total would have been ok with the two of us and our two kids, however we have about 18 coming. We sent out 50 invites and have some out right "no's" and ok with that and others that are sitting on the fence still about if they can afford it. Oh well marrying the right guy and that's all that counts

I have to say there aren't many of us out there who are going as just couples, but it is just me and FI getting married! I am sad in a few ways the fam and friends aren't going to be there, but that's why I'm going to go all out with photos so we can bring something special to all our friends and families. One thing we didn't want was to have to entertain everyone while we were enjoying our honeymoon. We can't afford to take too much time off, and by the time everyone would have left, we wouldn't have enough time to truly enjoy time together, as we do so little in everyday life anyway!

Because we're tight on money, also, i would definitely tell you that you should sign up for a honeymoon registry! We used honeymoonwishes.com, and that way it will help contribute to everything, so if you do decide to invite family, hopefully that might help some.

You just have to do what you feel is best, not necessarily for financial reasons, but what you REALLY want! It is, after all, your big day! I hope you decide what's best, and best of luck!

I was in love with the idea of it just being the two of us, but I knew that wouldn't have been realistic. My parents would have been very upset and it's not like we could have come back and had a reception to include everyone because my family lives on one side of the country and his on the other. So we ended up inviting 'immediate family'- parents, siblings, aunts & uncles. Yeah... we invited aunts and uncles, lol That got complicated because I am really close to a couple of my aunts (like a mom and the other like a sister) so it was without question that I couldn't include them, which meant then that we had to extend that invitation to all aunts and uncles. We pissed off some adult cousins but whatever. There were many arguments with the inlaws over who to invite and who not to invite and in the end I just clearly stated: 'this is not a invite everyone you are related to wedding'. We were very adament that only people we were close to came, and in the end that's what we got. I am excited because I never get to see or spend much time with my family so it's going to be a really special week ( and in some of their cases two weeks! ) lol Yeah... our honeymoon got hijacked.

Oh! and we have friends too! My three BM's and their other halfs, and three GM's + one girlfriend. AND my FI's grandparents.