I am having a small destination wedding in Greece. Neither my family nor FH family is able to help with money, and that is perfectly fine. This was a big reason we wanted to elope. But when my family heard about our elopement plans, world war 3 broke out over hurt feelings that we weren’t having guests. In the end we broke down and went from elopement to micro wedding with our immediate families.
Then I discovered I would have to pay for my family to get there. This includes flights to Greece and accommodation for 7 people. Plus a week of food and activities. FH also paid for his parents.
I’m just baffled that our families would invite themselves and then expect a free trip on top of it. I am beside myself because now I can’t afford most of the things I wanted for MYSELF, like hair extensions or a couple skin treatments I wanted so I could feel my best on MY OWN wedding day. But that all sounds so superficial when you say it out loud.
On top of that, my brother & my sister in law RSVP’d two months late because they initially thought they couldn’t come. Flights are now 10x the original amount and I’m still expected to pay for them because I did the same for everyone else. And to top it off my sister in law didn’t even thank me for her ticket.
I’m just miserable because this has turned from a wedding into an all expenses paid trip for 15 people. FH and I are lucky if we’ll be able to afford our own honeymoon the following week. All this over some drama about parents not being ok with elopement.
I want to have a positive outlook but I’m really struggling. I paid for all of this willingly so I know it’s my own fault, but I feel like I lost control of the situation and it’s too late to do anything about it.