Wedding planning so far has been pretty stress free. We had a bit of drama with a bridal shower but I was okay with just letting it go and being super excited for a bridal luncheon right before the wedding. But this week I’ve just been getting frustrated.
We’re having a destination(ish) wedding: 90% of guests are flying in from out of town. As we’re aware this is a big deal we’ve wanted to make things as easy as possible for our guests and make sure they feel welcomed.
We did a hotel block block and signed an attrition clause as a calculated risk: our wedding is on a holiday weekend (weekend after July 4th) and the end of a huge softball tournament. The last thing we wanted was for guests to struggle to find a place to stay. We talked it over and decided it made sense. Well we are 5 days from when the room block releases and we are still short 18 rooms (9 two night stays)!!!! We are on the hook for those rooms regardless of if they are booked (basically we owe the hotel money). We have plenty of guests coming to fill that block but people are dragging their feet booking rooms.
Then an I got semi-pressured into hosting a welcome party, originally I had wanted to just hang out in the hotel bar and invite people to wander down to say hello. My FH really wanted to do it (my mom and FMIL felt we should do for ettiquette) and I didn’t want to have a huge rehearsal dinner (not that they stopped people from judging me for not inviting every out of town guest to the rehearsal 😝) and we figured a fun relaxed party with drinks and apps at a brewery (walking distance from the hotel) would be a good way to go. Well now it looks like half my family is all confused why we are doing this, asking if they have to come, and planning late afternoon brewery tours for the time we set.
The whole time everyone has been telling me I have to do extra because everyone is flying and I’m happy to do extra, we’re lucky to be able to afford doing extra. But suddenly it feels totally unappreciated.
On top of this my none of my cousins from my dad side is coming and neither are two of my half-siblings (which I get one is newly adopted and one is severe special needs and it would just be a lot for them). But the wedding has made me feel very separate from that side of the family.
FH totally understands why I’m frustrated about the Welcome Party so, bless his soul, he’s taking over and we’ll have a fabulous time even if only a handful of people show up.
Alright vent over. Thanks for reading all of this.
