So in determining how exactly we want to spend our special day, we continue to go back and forth about what we want. Destination, home, small, large, formal, casual, etc. If I could do anything I wanted I would do this- take my immediate family, all siblings, parents, and closest friends and family to somewhere amazing like Italy or Ireland. Spend a few days sightseeing, partying, and having an amazing mini vacation ending in a small, romantic, intimate ceremony. I wouldn’t care about flowers, bridesmaid dresses, invitations, place cards, centerpieces- none of it. 
I’d have only 3 criteria.
1. Chris shows up
2. A kick ass dress 
3. A delicious cake 
We’d have a great dinner, lots of wine, share special memories and have an amazing night. Family would go home and we’d continue on to somewhere fabulous for our honeymoon. There would be 30 people tops.

Since my dream plan doesn’t seem entirely feasible, we’ve chosen the hometown wedding. We’re both from the same place, Buffalo, NY, so it only seems logical since our entire family is located there. Our big winter wedding. So now the guest list is up to 150-200+. You can’t have a hometown wedding and not invite the entire family- even if you barely know half of them. It’s the proper thing to do. Did I mention that I hate proper? Well I do. It’s also torture because now you’re paying $100 a head and planning all the arrangements that I don’t even care about to begin with. Don’t get me wrong- I want a great wedding. I personally just don’t feel I need all the frills to make it great. I also don’t want to spend $20,000 or more on things I don’t feel I need or care about. Especially when I have a house I am dying to decorate! 

So now onto the next plan- a dumbed down version of the dream plan. Taking Chris’s immediate family (5 people) and my extremely immediate family (6 people- and for me that’s like torture because I have a large blended family and cutting any of them from the guest list is basically like walking up to them and slapping them in the face) and taking them back to Napa Valley, where we got engaged. We’d do a small ceremony in the morning, hopefully at Storybook Mountain, where I fell in love with Napa. We’d stand amongst the vines as we say our vows with our only decoration being the vineyard of Zinfandel and the mountains. We’d spend the rest of the day touring Napa in a limo and have tastings and tours at our favorite vineyards and have a photographer follow us. We’d end the night with a delicious dinner. To me this sounds completely perfect. We’d spend a fraction of the cost of having a “real” wedding and it would be amazing. We’d also still have a picnic BBQ or something to accommodate the guests that couldn’t be in Napa. 

So what would you do if you were in my shoes? How did you handle your guest list or what would be your dream scenario? I’m currently in a total state of “I have no idea what the hell to do.”