I'm kind of in a similar situation as your brother. I'm getting married and we're planning to get married on a beach in LA and then fly to Thailand for the honeymoon. It's a cheaper/shorter flight from LA and it will be easier getting married in the US. We live in Iowa so no pretty beaches here.
We did Thailand and Cambodia for our honeymoon and it was so much fun!
I'm kind of in a similar situation as your brother. I'm getting married and we're planning to get married on a beach in LA and then fly to Thailand for the honeymoon. It's a cheaper/shorter flight from LA and it will be easier getting married in the US. We live in Iowa so no pretty beaches here.
We did Thailand and Cambodia for our honeymoon and it was so much fun!
Yay! I'm so excited. I don't think we'll have enough time to do both countries but Cambodia is definitely high on my list for future trips. I'm glad you thought it was a good honeymoon destination!
This is terrible, no joke. It's expensive, you want your kid in school, you don't like to fly. I don't have any siblings but would it be unforgivable if you guys didn't go see your brother marry?
This is where I am, too. Any ONE of those reasons might -- MIGHT -- be a reason to buck up and go, but all of them together? No. Your brother presumably knows you don't like to fly, those early K days are important (and I'd honestly be sad to miss them if I went alone), and sorry but that is a shitton of money. I'm sorry you feel guilty about declining, but if you decline, given the circumstances your brother might see how crazy this plan is and rethink it.
We did Thailand and Cambodia for our honeymoon and it was so much fun!
Yay! I'm so excited. I don't think we'll have enough time to do both countries but Cambodia is definitely high on my list for future trips. I'm glad you thought it was a good honeymoon destination!
Oh it was so much fun! Also it's pretty cheap too. We were two poor college kids at the time who could actually afford a suite right on the water when we were there. We didn't make any reservations beforehand. We would show up in a town and just look for a place to stay for a day or two and then move to the next town.
We concentrated on the beach areas in the south. Phuket (we stayed in Patong), Ko Phi Phi, Krabi, Ko Samui, Ko Phangan and then up to Bangkok. We managed to be in Ko Phangan during a full moon, so we stayed for the Full Moon Party there on Haad Rin Beach. We then had a last minute idea of hitting up Angkor Wat for a couple days, so we jumped on a flight over to Cambodia. I do recommend Cambodia, so if you're ever able to get back over there, I would check it out. I think we were there for about 2.5 weeks, so it was a fast paced trip to get all those places covered.
One other place that I also recommend is Laos. It's like a landlocked Thailand without as many tourists. Beautiful country, especially the interior mountain ranges and the towns of Luang Probang and Vang Vieng.
I think Destin is supposed to be a really pretty place. And hurricane season is 5 months long, so avoiding almost half the year might not have worked for them. I'd be more worried about the heat, not an unlikely hurricane.
Do you love your brother? I would suck it up and make the best of it. Ticket prices may change to your advantage.
Post by lovelyshoes on May 3, 2016 11:43:07 GMT -5
I'd normally say miss a few days of school, but not in this case. He will just start kinder and I think establishing a new routine and getting used to his teacher and classmates is way more important. Also, hurricane season is s real thing. F that noise. They want Florida, do it when it's a desirable time of year to visit. You can't expect people to spend that much money to travel and not spend a few extra days there to relax. Destination weddings = vacation days for guests.
$1500 is the price of a round trip ticket to Austria. To Florida?? Fuck that.
I would assume airfare is higher because it's a holiday week. Also, OP you probably have done this, but have you looked at flying into a bigger airport and renting a car? That may also save you some money.
Post by clairedunphy on May 3, 2016 12:22:54 GMT -5
We have drove to Destin a few times, from St. Louis, twice with kids, and it's not too bad of a drive. I've never flown there. We went to a destination wedding there in September 2008, right after Hurricane Ike hit Texas. The ocean was a mess, but our weather was nice. I would be the most annoyed about having to take my kids out of school. If I am spending that time and money, I would want to stay a week or so, and I couldn't pull my kids out of school that long.
This post is bringing back the rage memories of my brother's wedding in FL.
All guests were from California, but Floridahhhhh! $$$
I had to wear an ugly ivory sequin dress. You all remember that number I am sure.
We stayed at a resort that was $$$ (At least that part was fun.)
They divorced 5 months later because she had an affair. About $5,000 down the fucking tube.
I guess what I am trying to say is, that I am no help. It's been 2 years but I am still angry. My only advice would be to use this as a "vacation" in your mind. It's the only reason I haven't killed my brother's ex-whore.
the drive to destin is not bad. we do it a few times a year so I would probably drive and make a vacation of it BUT I am really close to my brothers and I would really want to make it work to be there for there wedding if at all possible.
I would drive, you can easily do it in a day from St. Louis (we did it over the course of 2 days from Kansas City but we had a 2 year old at the time). I'd also consider making a vacation out of it and staying a week since the kids will be out of school on Labor Day. You won't be the only ones I'm sure. Lots of people do Disney that week.
Just coming in to commiserate. SIL, who lives less than 10 minutes from us, has decided to plan her wedding in Miami, which is convenient for exactly zero of the 40 people they're inviting (both families live in the same city back in the Midwest, too.) They, too, were planning during the height of hurricane season, but at least they listened to reason and rescheduled to February after we pointed it out to them. Sorry you're dealing with this!
I adore you, but I have a completely different feeling about this.
Honestly, I would be thrilled to hop on a plane with my whole family anywhere in the world at any time for my brother's wedding.
Because it's my brother's wedding.
I'm here. I can't even imagine thinking about missing my brother's wedding. H's bro got married in England, we went without kids and spent a crap ton of money. Came home and then 2 days later got back on a plane to fly to OH for their midwest reception. Then they got divorced and we attended his next wedding 5 years later, also not convenient to us. Was it ideal? No. But missing it never crossed my mind because it's family.
I adore you, but I have a completely different feeling about this.
Honestly, I would be thrilled to hop on a plane with my whole family anywhere in the world at any time for my brother's wedding.
Because it's my brother's wedding.
I'm here. I can't even imagine thinking about missing my brother's wedding. H's bro got married in England, we went without kids and spent a crap ton of money. Came home and then 2 days later got back on a plane to fly to OH for their midwest reception. Then they got divorced and we attended his next wedding 5 years later, also not convenient to us. Was it ideal? No. But missing it never crossed my mind because it's family.
Everyone's family is different. SIL skipped out on our wedding, so DH refused to go to her second wedding.
It's easy for me to say that I would never miss a sibling's wedding, no matter what, because I know that none of my siblings would plan a wedding that the rest of us were unable to attend. We're all incredibly close so the same thing that would drive me (attend at all costs) would play (has played) a big role in choosing a wedding destination.
If you can't afford to go (whether that means truly cannot afford it, or choose not to deplete your vacation fund/days for that - not up to anyone else to judge), or if there are circumstances that make going incredibly challenging or whatever, you have to make the right decision for you.
When one plans a destination wedding, they have to do it prepared for people to be unable to attend (regardless of reason). And for all of the reasons you should attend a loved one's wedding, they should account for those sorts of things when planning the wedding if your attendance is important. Or, at least, that's how our family has approached all of their weddings - we couldn't imagine a day without each other, so the location of the party takes second place to making it as reasonable as possible for those we love to attend.
Did I read it right that they are not having a reception after? Something weeks later back home? so, it's going to be BYOB on the beach while you watch them leave for the honeymoon?
Did I read it right that they are not having a reception after? Something weeks later back home? so, it's going to be BYOB on the beach while you watch them leave for the honeymoon?
Did I read it right that they are not having a reception after? Something weeks later back home? so, it's going to be BYOB on the beach while you watch them leave for the honeymoon?
Can you Face Time instead ? lol
This is correct.
Not even dinner after? Nothing? Just "come see us exchange vows and then peace out"?