I hope you two come to a compromise. It would be nice for you to not have to pay for the wedding.
I think it will work out. My mom (and my dad backed this up) has the tendency to first react in the most extreme way and then after a while, she calms down. But... I always like to be prepared if she does carry out the "extreme" plan! Plus, my dad will be the cooler head in the situation.
Nothing against your mother but I never understand when parents or other family members of the couple invite their own people (co-workers, friends, etc) to their child's wedding. I would be annoyed by this especially if I didn't have a relationship with them.
Not that it should be a reason--but the nice gifts are going to come from the older set. Many times--these are the people that "raised" or the mother shared stories with while the little girl was growing up. Like it or not--mothers see weddings as a culmination of their childrearing and like to be congratualated also.
Very true. I met some of my family at my wedding. I thought that was the craziest thing. Why were they invited? I'm the only daughter and my mom and I are close. This was their time too.
My parents paid for the bulk of the wedding expenses. Interestingly though the fam that I met at my wedding gave serious cash as a gift. This was to 'help start my new life'. The fam that couldn't make it SENT gifts that made me go 'woah'.
And the three posts above are the conflict that we're having.
Honestly, I have NO problem with my parents inviting their friends that I might not know that well. However, the conflict comes when she's ruling out reception sites because she says they're too small for 225 people or because they aren't things that would be comfortable for her friends, and that's when I say, "Well, sorry, but I don't plan to have the reception venue for my wedding determined by what you want your friends to enjoy and see!"
Like, she wanted one expensive place on Friday because it was cheaper, but FH said it would be difficult for his people to come in on a Friday from Pennsylvania. My mom said, "Well, I compromised for his 62 people, but all of OUR people are local and could make it on Friday!" (These are all retired folks over 65.)
I said, "No, YOUR people are local. I have a lot of friends coming from out of state too who can't make it on Friday, so let's just pick a cheaper place and have it on Saturday."
I'm thinking too, so wait, the groom's people are just disregarded because you want to get the Friday deal at Chez Expensive and you're determining feasibility for everyone based on YOUR friends? Nah...
So yes, they are more than welcome to come, but I'm not selecting my venue and date to accomodate THEM.