Unless she's buying plane tickets and paying for hotel rooms for all her guests, that's just rude. Get married at the courthouse for fifty bucks, and then take yourself on a nice vacation.
Oh girl I have one better...my dad said once “if you want to elope I’ll hold the ladder”.
“... that’s just rude”.
I think “destination” weddings are the “new” thing and quite frankly... I think they are stupid. I agree with you completely about the money issue. My nephew is having a destination wedding next Fall in New England. That would mean plane tickets or a 10 hour car ride, hotel for 5, boarding the pets and missing the first few days of school. I have already declined nicely. The rule of thumb USE to be the wedding was held in the bride’s “home town”. THAT makes complete sense to me.
I’ve seen people spend enough on a wedding to put a down payment on a nice little house. Makes no sense - especially when so many of them wind up divorced not too long later.
And then they go and do the white-dress thing again.