What is correct?

Is great aunt able to fully take care of herself?


Is the 1 person invited the one you know?
If you answered yes to both then I see nothing wrong with wanting to invite just them.

Only invite the one/s you know. Inviting the entire group makes zero sense because you don’t have a relationship with them any other time of the year or during your life, so why invite people you are not close to to make other people happy? If you want to get to know them, arrange a family reunion picnic at a local park that everyone contributes to at a different time of the year. Your wedding is not that family reunion.

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Thank You!!!

I would say just invite who you know! My mom is currently inviting every family member she knows to my wedding (her and my dad are helping pay for it so I have no problem with it) but I've told her I have no idea who most of these people are. It's kind of awkward.

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The invites to friends of the parents in many ways represents a celebration with their friends about this big event in theirs and your life. So it is not so odd that many may be strangers to you. It is of course better when you know most of these friends of your parents. But the ones who pay for the wedding have a greater say in who is invited.

For the OP, most family relationships I know are pretty weak when reaching to the grandparents' siblings. So it would be fine just to invite ones you know and like.

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Lol they actually are family that I do not know. They are actually children of my grandmas siblings (none of the siblings are still alive). But we have a bigger haul and my parents are helping to pay so I really don't have a problem inviting them. I'm just currently struggling where to seat them because I do not know who they know lol.

View Quoted Comment In that case, don’t invite any.

If your parents are hosting and paying, it’s a big hall, and you don’t mind inviting them, the question becomes do they want them all there? If the related parent has no relationship with their other cousins then there wouid be no need to invite them. But if they think your aunt would be offended, it’s worth thinking about if it’s better to be consistent and invite only the great-aunt, or alternatively invite her with the option of a companion or guest in order to spare feelings.


Seating is not an issue. Everyone sitting at a table doesn’t have to know one another. Or you can have a mix of those who do and don’t. Wouldn’t your parent know?

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My parents are saying invite one, invite all... But they are not helping pay for the wedding as they are not financially able to. We are paying for the wedding ourselves. We never see this side. The awkward part comes in because this is my maternal grandmothers side, and as we were extremely close with Grandma, we knew her siblings (only one surviving), but were not close with the kids because there are SO many. My Maternal grandfathers side is much more close to our family and we know the majority of that side. That side will likely get the invite as we at least know each other by name and know a face when we see each other. We see each other a couple of times a year. The maternal grandmother side maybe once every few years for Great Aunt, but yearly for one of her son's (live same state, but opposite ends of the state). Never see the rest except for maybe Social Media.

Then there is definitely no need to invite them all, though if it's financially no issue for you and your parent really wants them there, it's an option. Sorry, I mixed you up with another poster.

I believe it's perfectly OK to invite the great-aunt and the 1 cousin you know. I don't believe in anyone inviting a lot of "strangers" to their wedding just because they're related. For example, I am the oldest grandchild on my Dad's side of the family, the side we were always closest to. There are 10 adult cousins, with 10 or 12 kids among them, who are now grandparents, and a very far flung. Most of us stay in touch on Facebook. But, several of them married off their kids, had grandkids and I wasn't invited to anything, and I am fine with it. Most of the celebrations were not elaborate and while everyone is financially "comfortable" to one extent or other, far as I know, none are wealthy enough to invite everyone all the time. I am always invited to the "landmark" birthday parties for the remaining aunts (there's an 85th party coming up for the 1 remaining aunt I will attend), and at funerals, we always pick up where we left off. So, invite whom you know.