Chicago or Greece?

Not much to report here in happy-couple land. I was just reading a very popular blogger's blog tips, and they said that in order for your blog to remain popular, you need to update every three days. Not that my blog has ever been the big hotspot on the internets, but I've started commenting on a few other blogs so I think my readership is starting to grow. So if you've found this site by accident or you are a dear friend or family, Welcome. :)

The big topic of conversation lately has been where to have our wedding. Or rather, the topic of an ongoing disagreement. Before we got engaged, we talked a lot about doing it in Greece, where Nick is from, possibly on an island. We always knew we wanted a very small, intimate celebration, so a "destination" wedding seemed like a great idea. And it wouldn't really be like a destination wedding since one of us is from there. It sounded beautiful and magical, until I started to consider the details...and the cost. I've complained ad nauseum about the amount of money I've had to spend on other people's weddings, and I certainly do not want people to feel that way about mine. I'm not planning to have a bridal party or many of the other traditional "American" wedding details, but the cost for guests of flying to Greece, staying in a hotel, etc, would be quite a lot, especially with the weak dollar. Which means that many of the people who are dearest to me would not be able to come to my wedding. And that started to make me sad.

Plus the logistics of planning a celebration over there would be a bit of a nightmare. I would have to hire someone to take care of most of the details, and at this point I don't know anyone who has gotten married on a Greek Island who could recommend a wedding planner or resort. I would have to make many decisions about the wedding sight unseen, which would make me very nervous.

And then there's the problem of picking a date that works for all of mine and Nick's immediate family, who have to be at the wedding.

It just seems like....a lot of problems. Nick seems to have had his heart set on doing it there, but it's just starting to sound so complicated. And expensive. And a Chicago wedding would be so lovely, and most of my family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins) and our close friends would be able to make it. And the majority of Nick's family who would come to the wedding are here anyway. His grandmother refuses to leave her house in a village on the Pelopennese, so it's unlikely we'd get her on a boat to an island.

So I'm in a quandary. Greece or Chicago? Chicago or Greece? There's going to have to be some sort of compromise, and I'm just not sure what it is at the moment. But that's what marriage is all about, right? Compromise. Guess I'd better get started...