I have had similar issues but not quite as dramatic (even though at the time it was frustrating and I'm still a little bitter). My fiance and his parents wanted and AHR, at first I thought of course, a small BBQ or something just to celebrate would be great since I have a large extended family that will not being traveling to MX with us. Well, that very quickly turned into a regular old wedding reception booked in a hotel banquet hall with a full dinner. I tried to fight it as long as I could explaining that the cost to have this big reception wasn't worth it or at all necessary. I lost. My issue is with the fact that we are basically paying for this sit down dinner reception so that his mother can invite all her nutty friends and show off (I feel this way because she refused to do a BBQ because she said she has used coupons long enough and wants to spend the money---ok, but then why complain about the cost of MX??). So, basically I have agreed to this big reception (I get to wear my dress again at least ) but my fiance and I have trimmed the actual dinner guest list WAY down in order to cut costs. We will ultimately end up with a dance party of 300+ people but only dinner for 150ish. Do your parents communicate with his? Was anything said that would make his parents think that your parents would be footing the bill for their trip?