Inviting friends of the parents

[Nortono]

Getting married next year in the UK
both sets of parents are paying for aspects of the wedding with us.
it’s been requested that we invite a couple of friends of theirs and we are not sure.
how many “invites” did parents have to yours if they were contributing?
we know these people but haven’t met ourselves for years.

I invited my parents' friends to my wedding. My parents paid towards the wedding. I wanted my parents to enjoy the day with their friends. I also see a lot of their friends as 'aunts and uncles', so I wanted them there too. There was only one couple I hadn't seen in more recent years, but my parents have a good laugh with them and meet up with them regularly. It was a thank you really, for all the support I'd had off my parents over the years, really. I had a great day.

This.

I had quite a few people at my wedding, that I knew because they were friends of my parents, and had been part of my life for decades (all of my life in some cases). So, although they were first and foremost parents' friends, I'd describe them more as family friends.

Having chatted theoretically about weddings, I think my dc feel the same.
It does depend, obviously on a whole combination of circumstances, but there are friends of ours that have been involved in the dcs' lives since they were born, so they - the adult dc - have said they would invite them.

When Mum and I were discussing the guest list she said when she and Dad got married in the 60s the convention was that the bride and groom got no guests, it was a party paid for and hosted by her parents. I think the expectation that the parents now get no guests even if they are paying and it's all about the young generation has gone too far the other way and am quite glad that I got married at the midpoint. It's worth pointing out that 24 years later I am more likely to see friends of my parents when I visit them than I am to see some old school or university friends.

I agree with this too. I would factor in how longstanding a relationship is, in to decisions about who to invite and who to leave out, again, along with other factors.

I'm getting married this year.
We have 60 in day, 60 in night.
We are paying over half the amount , with 3xrealtives contributing the rest.
No friends of the parents are coming-Some of my parents friends I've always known but literally have zero to do with them as simply dont see them.
we have v.v immediate family coming ( parents, siblings, grandparents) the rest are our friends.

Future mil is helping with the cost of our wedding. She did the same with fh's older brother. Although he goy twice the amount we are despite being told over the years we would get the same. Doesn't bother us though as keeping it fairly simple. Trying to do e erything under 8k which is with us putting in almost half of that. We added one of my partners uncles an his mums side we are close with and an uncle on his dad's side, the other on his dad's side will be on holiday. To keep the peace I said to my fh we should invite his mums other sibling, to which we have. However, we have no real relationship with them and have not seen them since future bil got married 6 years ago. His mum is now trying to add 5 more people since getting wind that we had someone say they needed to drop out. I told fh to tell her no. These people involve his god father, however in 15 years together I have met this person 4 times at most. Two at weddings, one a christening for our niece and possibly one other time. I do not think it went down well.

However, our budget is tight and I have people I am close to that I have not invited as we simply do not have the budget. People that would travel a long way only to attend the evening which would be unfair. So helping with the cost or not, they will not be invited unless she offers to add the extra these people will cost. We simply cannot afford to take £300 out of the budget to feed them. Its tight as is and that's with me taking time off to decorate and do lots of things self.

If your not close to them why have them. Its your day not theirs and the way I see it is unless it was made clear at the time the gift was offered or given, they should not throw in expectations later of adding guests.

Don't you know your parents friends? My parents friends were neighbours who I had known since childhood, the parents of my old school friends and an older work colleague of dad's who was like an honorary grandad. I wouldn't have asked them because I was a faithless twit but years later I still see these family friends and hardly any of the cool younger people I insisted on asking.