I got married in Palm Springs and the only thing on the invitation was the wedding itself. However, we did have an AirBnB for a week and told people that we would be in town for the week and if they wanted to hang out with us they were more than welcomed to do so. We had no agenda besides hanging out and maybe hit the town. The wedding itself was also super low-key and mostly just a party with 35 people.
This was made clear to my family who was flying in from all over the country and even Canada. My wife’s family is in the area and we live driving distance to Palm Springs. We also allowed my siblings to stay in the AirBnB with us for free to help with costs. The day before the wedding, my sisters get into a big fight with my wife and I over the fact we had a “destination wedding” and that we didn’t have planned activities for our guests for the whole week leading up to the wedding.
We didn’t have a huge budget ($6000) and 90% of that was spent on food and party rental supplies (chairs, plates, utensils, etc).
NTA. UGH the entitlement.
NTA. People can entertain themselves. You are providing what you can (like free housing). If folks don’t like it they are welcome to plan all the activities they want.
Who, in the hell thinks the bride and groom should plan out a WEEK of activities for the guests. I tend to think they will be pretty busy with, I don’t know, wedding stuff.
Plus, they weren’t asked to come a week ahead. To me it’s pretty clear that you’re on your own. 🙄
NTA. Your sister’s wrong; it’s not a destination wedding if you are within driving distance from the venue.
And it took her until the wedding day to be annoyed? Wow!
A whole week of activities, what? They’re adults, they should be able to entertain themselves, especially since they didn’t have to pay for lodging. NTA
NTA. You did plan a week of stuff – hanging out for free at the Airbnb. If the itinerary wasn’t to sisters liking she was free to plan something. Or did she expect you to plan and PAY for a week of entertainment?
NTA – and your sisters should be ashamed of themselves to not bring their complaint to you but to their soon to be SIL. What entitled brats.
NTA you gave them a free house to stay in. Are their phones broken? They can go look up places to go if they want activities.
NTA. Goodness gracious, adults that can’t find a way to keep themselves entertained? If you had planned a bunch of activities they would have bitched about how they would rather be doing something else.
Yikes, that’s wild. It’s a wedding you’re hosting, not a vacation. NTA
NTA, it’s more rude to plan their activities in my opinion…. Some people just want to relax.
Not to mention that arguing with a couple the day before their wedding is AH behavior
If they wanted some ideas they could have asked in advance… or looked on TripAdvisor
“My wife’s family is in the area and we live driving distance to Palm Springs.”
Definitely NOT a destination wedding.
NAH. I guess. So, it’s all local for you and your wife’s side of the family whereas yours is making a major travel commitment. Since you presumably don’t see them all that often, or at least as often as you see your wife side of the family, I would have certainly expected you to pointedly host one or two get-togethers. Not just a generic hey we will be in town maybe we can all meet up. They’re coming far to see you. You’re not making any additional efforts to do something together?!?
Not sure I can call you an asshole, maybe obtuse or something. Your wife to be didn’t consider this either? Since her family is more local it all just might read a little bit of a OK your side of the family was invited as a courtesy but nobody really cares at all about spending any time with them.