Problems Planning A Wedding Abroad

Planning your wedding abroad should be the most exciting thing you will ever plan! However, ultimately it's probably going to be a smaller wedding than if you were to have your wedding at home, which means smaller guest list.... which can cause a few disagreements when it comes to family politics. Some of these problems I am currently experiencing.
After a whole load of tears and upset yesterday I thought I would share with you the issues that have surfaced whist planning my wedding.
The max number of wedding guests we can afford to invite to our wedding is 50....and no more and this is something we have had to stick to otherwise, where do you draw the line? 50 is already well above the average for a wedding abroad!
So we put together our guest list firstly making sure our close family and best friends were invited first. These people will always come first and thats your parents, siblings and bridesmaids, best man etc. Wider family and other friends, you may need to have a think about. We sent our invites out when we booked the wedding but we had given people warning last summer that we would be getting married abroad to give them time to have a think about it.
I will be honest with you when I say that the guest list has been the most difficult thing so far as there are people we haven't been able to invite and there have been people we didn't really want to invite which is actually one of the reasons we chose to get married abroad.
We both have relatives who we are on speaking terms with and we probably see them once a year...maybe twice?? but these said relatives have caused upset in the family on many occasions, mainly at weddings and Christams etc and have ended up ruining family events for everyone else, so it was really a no brainer not to invite them. It's our wedding day after all and we don't want it ruined by people who simply cannot behave themselves. I may sound harsh but I am being totally honest.
Over the weekend everyone received their invites and yesterday all hell broke loose!
I spent most of the morning crying because of phonecalls and text messages...."It's very unfair of you not to invite them"......."I won't be coming to the wedding because he's/ she's not invited" ....."You are selfish"......and you get the idea!
I'm sure it will all sort itself out, but in the meantime I'm sticking to my guns. I've been very upset but I've had to take a step back and think about it. As long as my husband to be is waiting for me at the chapel, then thats all that matters. The people who really love and care about you will respect your decisions and they should be happy for you on your big day.
So, if your planning a wedding abroad, these things can flair up and family politics can be an issue with any wedding. Other than that remeber IT'S YOUR DAY! ENJOY IT!

We Decided to Get Married Abroad

So the search begins!
We have decided to get married in September of this year.......yes, I know it's not long, but it should be long enough for a wedding abroad, or so I've heard. Just one major thing to decide on.....a destination!!!
I always knew I wanted to get married abroad since I visited Mexico with my parents when I was 21. We saw a wedding on the beach and it was simply beautiful, I just thought you couldn't beat the sunshine, the clear blue sea and the whole idea of not having to invite everyone and anyone. The idea of a big wedding in the UK with 100's of guests from distant relatives who you havent seen since you were 4 years old to your Grans next door neighbour has never appealed to me. All I want is the people I love the most, the sun, the sea and my amazing husband to be.
There are so many places your can choose to get married in, it can be a little confusing. I've been trawling the internet for weeks looking at everywhere from France and Spain to the Carribean and as far away as Thailand! It can be quite daunting especially when your looking at a destination you haven't been to.
In the 7 years we have been together we have been on holiday to some lovely places, so naturally we will probably choose one of our favourite locations: Italy, Mexico, Cuba or Greece, but for now, I'm still weighing up the options.