I agree with Kelly. I got married at age 26 and had moved away from my hometown at age 18. Having not lived there in 8 years I didn't know many people there. I had many friends coming from college and grad school to the wedding as well. Hubby was from another state too. If I had had the "hometown wedding" over 70% of my guests would be traveling anyway!

HAve you thought of Hilton Head South Carolina. We have a condo we use frequently at Harbourtown Yacht Club in Hilton Head. I have seen a couple of differnt weddings there over the years, both outdoor weddings with the well-known lighthouse in the background and indoor weddings at the Yacht Club. This seems like it would be a great ide and there are some nice B&Bs on the island which you could rent out.

Another idea in Key West is The Chelsea House and The Red Rooster Guest House. They are both right next store to each other and share the same pool area. Pull up Keywest.com and you will find both of these.

Mindy,<BR>Have you choosen a place or narrowed down your choices?

Mindy, sorry you had to receive so many negative comments but there seems to be several unhappy, angry people that only find happiness being nasty. That must be true of life in general and a forum like this is apparentely more than they can resist. Ignore them and good luck with your wedding plans. By the way, if guests cannot afford a destination wedding, they don't have to go!!! DUH ! About Litchfield Plantation, where would someone fly into and get to that site from the airport?

If flying to Litchfield Plantation, you could either fly into Myrtle Beach, SC or Charleston, SC. Myrtle Beach is the more convenient airport of the two because it is only 20-30 minutes from the Myrtle Beach airport to Litchfield. The Charleston airport is a little over an hour to Litchfield.

Thank you Becca.

Key Largo!!! At sunset. Definitely!!!!

What about West Palm Beach in Florida? There are two resorts which I have heard are very nice - The Breakers and Boca Raton Resort and Beach Club.

Kelly: Sorry, have to disagree with you - I'm tired of destination weddings that dictate WHERE and WHEN I spend MY hard earned cash and scant vacation time. <BR>I can understand these weddings when the situation is as described by Ang.<BR>But the last two "destination weddings" in our family took place at a beach resort just because the bride & groom wanted to be there. My husband and I do not like beach vacations as neither one of us can take sun. We would never have considered taking a vacation there!<BR> <BR>

You might check out the Sanderling Inn north of Nags Head, N.c.- Beautiful setting, I think they have a website also. B&B feel but can accomodate your size group. Good Luck!

Me- you sound very self-involved, just like your id. The wedding is not about you, its about sharing the couple's day. People in my family WANT to attend my wedding, they wouldn't care if it was in Antartica, in the dead of winter. The point is they want to be with us. My feeling is that if they don't, then they should stay home, that simple. I'm not asking anyone to feel obligated to come to a wedding and heaven forbid go on a vacation that isn't their dream vacation, remember this is the couple's wedding, not a vacation for the guests. Most destination weddings I have heard of involve less than 30 people, obviously these people are very close to the couple and could care less where the wedding is held. I really don't want people to come to my wedding who are not excited to do so. I want only closest friends and family with me so that it can be an intimate and special affair. One of the points of a destination wedding is so that you don't have a lot of "acquaintances" or not so close "family members" around. The idea really weeds out the people who care more about going somewhere they like than sharing the couple's special day!

Mindy and Kelly:<BR>I don't have any other information for you except please do not feel you have to defend your decision. Have a great time, enjoy yourself and your guests and don't worry about what anyone else thinks. Good luck!

My husband and I love to travel, but since we're not yet retired, our travels are limited by vacation time. With limited opportunity to enjoy our time off, it is somewhat presumptious to think that your family and close friends want to spend major travel funds and days off at a place that isn't of particular interest. A few years ago, we were invited to my cousin's child's wedding in Jamaica. My husband had just had surgery a few months earlier and really couldn't handle being out in the sun alot. So we had decided to stop by and enjoy the wedding on our way to London. We heard that behind our backs we were ridiculed for not partaking in the entire week of activities. This was despite the fact that we had explained the medical circumstances. It cost several hundred extra dollars to include the wedding weekend in our plans, but to spend all of our vacation funds to be locked in our hotel room in Jamaica would have been ludicrious to just keep family happy. It's not like my husband was going to risk his health because the bride wanted jetski as a group for a week. <BR><BR>While your family is trying to be nice and say that they don't mind the cost, think twice and question if this is fair to everyone. And I really pity the wedding party attendants who are faced with all of the travel expenses and the dresses/tuxes, bridal showers, gifts, etc. It may be your wedding, but don't bankrupt your friends. And remember that while it's your wedding and you want to sprulge on your lodging, your guests may not want to spend their life savings on staying at the top resorts.

Gail- I hardl think of your cousin's daughter as close family. "CLose" family (parents and most siblings) however on the other hand usually don't care the location of the wedding and are usualy the ones a couple wants to spend the day with.<BR><BR>As for attendants, I am the only bridesmaid in a wedding that is to take place aboard a cruise ship en route to the Bahamas. I am paying my way and husband's way on the cruise as well as airfare and hotel in florida. I have no problems with this. When the bride invited me to be a part, she told me up front and very nicely that she understood if I could not participate. The thing is I live 8-9 hrs driving from the bride now anyway. No matter where she had her wedding, I would have had to pay airfare and hotel as well as dress, present, bridal shower etc. I have no problem as she is my closest friend in the world and former roomate. The bride in this case has a very large family (6 brothers and sisters all married some with children) The wedding will be small and not even all the immediate family will be coming much less distant family like cousins or cousins parents. It will be her parents and some of her siblings, his parents and brother, me and hubby, and best man and his girlfriend. None of us feel obligated, we choose to take this 5 day trip with them. <BR><BR>On another note, one of the reasons for the cruise ship wedding is that it is his second marriage (her first) and he apparently had a 200 person formal wedding the first time and doesn't feel like it would be proper to repeat.

Me, Glenda and others, could you address the point that very, very often the bride and groom are not from the same home towns. When I was married (and this is the case with almost ALL of the weddings I've attended) about 30% of the attendees travelled to my home town. I had relatives who came from the opposite coast, as did my husband. My husband's family and many of his friends travelled about 400 miles, booked hotel rooms, etc. I had a relatively small wedding, 90 people, and there did not exist a location where at least 30 people would not have had to travel to attend. Is this a preferable scenario to you than simply having 30 people total attend a wedding and all travelling to a vacation destination rather than the bride's home town?<BR><BR>When you receive a wedding invitation you are not obligated to attend, and if it is beyond your financial or physical means to do so you absolutely shouldn't attend.

FYI - Abe I am very close to my cousin and infact am the Godmother to her son. What I'm trying to say is that even if you're close, destination weddings are not always convenient for the attendees.

Pay no attention to Kelly. She was run off of here once and she still has the audacity to post here. She also runs to Fodors censors any time anyone says even the tiniest negativity to her or about her....

I have never been "run off" the sight before. Some time ago I attempted to post a couple of questions and get information regarding holding my wedding at WDW. These were travel-related regarding resorts and procedure as well as cost. I got several of the same RUDE remarks regarding destination weddings that Mindy has and that is why I seem emphatic and defend the decision. I have never reported any post to Fodor's myself though many kind people did stand up for my decision. I would uphold any decision however by Fodors to delete negatvity and personal attacks on the board.

This is not a wedding planning site people!