Engaged! and lots to think about!

[CoralQuiz]

I''m engaged! Yay And thinking about planning the wedding. We both kinda like the idea of eloping somewhere tropical, but our mothers would murder us..

So now we''re thinking of 3 options :

1 - semi-elope but shout our immediate families to the tropics with us (approx 8 family members)
2 - have a big wedding in our home town where most of our friends and family live (and tropical honeymoon!)
3 - have a big wedding in the place we live now, where lots of people would have to fly to, but where we own a house and have a future (and tropical honeymoon)

Eloping with the family or having a normal wedding would probably both cost about the same amount.

The only real downside to a normal wedding is having to invite some friends/relatives and exclude others... but that''s not a good enough reason to not include our closest friends in our wedding I don''t think.. I''m leaning towards home town !

(plus I''m not sure I want our families on our honeymoon with us..............now that I think about it)

is it obvious that the semi-eloping idea is FI''s ?

 

[Dannielle]

I have no opinion but just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS!

 

[violet3]

congratulations! i vote - elopement for sure - wish i could do that. If that''s not up your alley, however, i would go with the hometown wedding vs. making your guests travel to you. It just makes everything easier for sure - looking forward to your details!

 

[bee*]

Personally I am really happy to be getting married in front of my friends and family so I''d go for B, but it really depends on which you''d prefer. Would you regret in the future not having everyone there or would you prefer to look back and have just immediate family there?

 

[honey22]

Congrats on your engagement!!!

We are sem-eloping / having a small destination wedding. We are only inviting our immediate family ie siblings, and a handful of very close friends who we are both friends with, and my Nanna. All up, it''s 19 people which is perfect for us. We didn''t want to say our vows in front of a whole heap of people. We wanted to share our most special day with the people that really mean the world to us. I can''t wait!!!!!

 

[CoralQuiz]

Thanks for the congrats! I''m so excited

We have some progress... we''re thinking a hometown wedding in three stages in three locations : ceremony, reception/dinner, party!

The ceremony will have only our immediate family, then the reception dinner will have a max of 60 of our nearest and dearest, then the party will be open to our outer circle of friends - people whose company we love but who we haven''t seen for a while etc.

So maybe 8 people at the wedding, 50 at the reception and 100+ at the after-party

The more I think about this idea the more I love it. We can send out Save The Dates before we have narrowed down our guest list for the reception. Everyone we love will be included in the actual day at some point but we will have control over who attends the intimate moments with vows and speeches.

The after-party shouldn''t cost much - hopefully we can negotiate drinks prices at a club in town and my FBIL manages a popular covers band who could provide the entertainment...... He would so love having an important responsibility too, since he adores his big brother and we''re not having groomsmen or bridesmaids so he can''t be that.

OMG I''m so excited just writing about it! hehe!

The only thing that worries me is that the whole affair including honeymoon will probably cost $15000 and our initial discussions were around $10000...... It''s a lot of money. Does anyone have any tips about approaching parents to ask if they would consider contributing? I think that mine would want to but it''s so hard to ask for money

oh well. Yay!

 

[CNOS128]

Yay! Congratulations!

Having gone most of the way through the planning process, I would advise you to semi-elope.

But if you enjoy planning stuff, then go for the wedding. And of course, all that really matters is the man and the tropical honeymoon!

 

[CNYHopeful]

Hey CoralQuiz, congratulations on your engagement! There are so many decisions to be made for both a formal wedding and elopement/later celebration. Either way you choose, I wish you and your FI the best and hope you find some good inpt from the many lovely ladies here on PS. Good luck!