Organizing weddings is a hard job. Hard not only because it takes a lot of time and there are a million options to choose from, but also because it is very “painful” financially. Saving enough money for the wedding may take several years unless you are having a garden wedding with your family. However, generally speaking, most couples want to have all of their closest friends and family on their special day.
The original poster starts the story by introducing her and her fiancé’s plans for a large wedding in July. However, since they already had some money set aside, they decided to indulge after only 14 responses indicating that guests were available to come. Once the OP decided to switch the wedding to a Hawaii trip and pay for all of the guests’ expenditures, they double-checked with the guests to see if they could take a few extra days off, and planning soon began.
The OP also shares the reasons why her sister and her family originally were not able to come. To begin with, the summer is the most challenging season of the year for the sister and her husband’s business because it is the busiest time of the year, and the wedding was scheduled for July. A three-hour drive with the kids would be too challenging, which was another justification.