When you get engaged you will hear RIGHT away – “So when is the wedding?!” I mean seriously people were asking me the next morning after it happened and I was still getting used to the fact that I was wearing a ring and saying the word fiance instead of boyfriend. Before we could even decide on the venue and date we had to decide WHERE the wedding would be.
I stayed in Cincy for college but Ryan had moved here from Cleveland to attend the University of Cincinnati where we met in an English class, fell in love, moved in together, and currently reside and work here.
So we had a few options for the wedding:
1. We can have the wedding in the Bride’s hometown (traditionally) so that only his family has to travel.
2. We can have the wedding in Cleveland so that my family has to travel.
3. We can have a destination wedding and EVERYONE has to travel.
There is no right or wrong answer, this is something only you can decide.
Honestly, I really wanted option #3 at first. With a destination wedding you are forced to plan a wedding from a distance, but to be honest that part didn’t really bother me. I had visions of myself on our wedding day on the side of a mountain where we had a small intimate gathering under the stars. So I had to realize that the main reason I wanted a destination wedding was for the photos, which we could do on our honeymoon and on our wedding day we might not have time to even hike on the side of the mountain.
We also are going to pay for a lot of our wedding ourselves so I thought if we could cut the guest list based on location it would be more affordable. After considering the financial burden that a destination wedding could possibly put on relatives and the wedding party, guests travelling with children, and immediate family we realized we would be happy with a local wedding and planning an amazing honeymoon! We also had to factor in the health of those travelling- specifically grandparents and my dad.
Lastly, we had to consider how our parents felt, especially if they are going to contribute. In our case, we had
For options 1 and 2 we had to consider how large each side of the family was and see who could travel to what city. Obviously it is easier to have one family travel if the numbers are much smaller than the other side. We both have very large extended families so that didn’t help much.
Ultimately we have decided on Option 1, to have the wedding in Cincinnati and have Ryan’s family travel for the wedding. Cleveland is driving distance so family will not have to purchase flights and we can show off our hometown and where we live to those who have never been here before!
If you have been in this situation before I would love to know what you decided!
