Local reception after destination wedding

Even with a destination wedding, there is a risk of offending guests when you treat people differently.

Thank you for this clarification on destination wedding! I'm beginning to feel like people think that anything they need to travel to is a destination wedding, but that just doesn't seem right if it's located near the couple. In this day and age, people move all across the country and world, and especially with my friend and family circle - our parents live nearby, but none of my friends are less than a 2 hour drive or even flight. I understand that even weddings located near the couple may require travel for some friends and family and there are time and cost considerations that come with that, but that doesn't make it a destination wedding...

I'm in total agreement with you! The registry link is in poor taste, but I can't help but wonder if the invitation is the only means they're communicating with this larger set of guests...? Like maybe they aren't using their wedding website for this?? I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and assume that maybe they just didn't know better or thought it was more "effective" to communicate it this way, not necessarily that they're trying to get a cash grab out of it. Like someone else pointed out, gift is optional and OP can always choose not to give anything?

As far as the rest goes, this is also all very normal to me and I don't see anything against etiquette. Lots of people have a reduced guest list for destination weddings, and especially this one seems to have a clear boundary around the guestlist which makes complete sense. And then they have a larger reception locally - honestly often times this is even thought of FOR the guests because we know how difficult it can be for people to travel, especially in these times. Agree with you on feeling like couples just can't ever win when it comes to their wedding lol

Still, people shouldn't be including links to gifts of any sort on an invitation. I can see why OP was taken aback.