Re: It’s “your day”!
I don’t think anyone is saying that people who you love and care about should be excluded. As another poster mentioned earlier, if the bride and groom actually know 300+ people who are part of their lives, and who they have a on-going POSITIVE relation with…then by all means all those people should be invited. As your daugher grows up, if your best friends continue to be a part of your and her life…and your daugher sees them they way she sould see her khala’s…then I don’t see why your daughter would not want them to be a part of her wedding.
Yet every single desi wedding I’ve attended…where the guest list is 300+…there are ALWAYS guests at the wedding who have absolute no relations with the bride or groom. At every single wedding, there are always guests who are being introduced to BOTH the bride and groom! Well heck…if the bride and groom already don’t know who they are…WHY the heck did they get an invitation to the wedding?! With my close desi friends…there are always guests at the wedding where if I point and ask who they are (either at the event itself OR later in the pics)…BOTH the bride and groom respond “I have no idea…probably someone my parents knew”. And yes, almost every single desi wedding has guest who’re “aunties” in the community…who don’t have a POSITIVE relationship with the bride or the bride’s mother…who’re known as community gossips…but they get an invitation anyway b/c gawd forbid their “feelings” get hurt. Its these type of guests that most desi couples have an issue with (people they don’t know and/or people who they don’t like).
But I think many of us are missing the point of the thread. I don’t think it’s necessarily about guest count. Its the wedding as a whole. From the bride’s outfit, jewelry, event decor, music, food…choice of invitation…all those little details…when parents and the couple talk…and clearly there is a disagreement on what/how something should be done…who should have the final say? With many things…it’s not always possible to compromise.