One of the many reasons we decided to have a destination wedding and a short guest list was that we wanted to do it on somewhere cool. Ultimately, the wedding is about us declaring our love before God and Gulf of Mexico. It's not any more complicated than that.
Of course, there are some fun distractions that are less about us, like picking the location (done!), buying a dress (done!), planning the honeymoon (not done), etc. I think for Diana at least there's a little bit of stress in that, but not so much that it clouds the reason we're doing this in the first place.
But unfortunately, some level of drama on behalf of friends and family can creep in. Having a small affair was supposed to minimize that kind of thing, but it seems that isn't the case. It upsets Diana, and that upsets me. I have no stomach for teenage passive-aggressive bullshit in my life, and I'm certainly not going to have it around a day that's supposed to be one of the best of our lives.
We love our friends and family dearly, sure, but they need to realize that our wedding is not about them. It's our special day, and everyone else can suck it up for a little while so we can make sure the day is special in the way we would like. I don't think that's a lot to ask of anyone.
It IS all about you and what you two want.
Gordon and I had to limit our guest list because we simply couldn't afford to invite everyone. That meant making it an adult wedding because his side of the family had a ton of little children that we just couldn't afford to pay for.
In the end, no one on my father's side of the family came because my "older" cousins on that side were not invited and everyone got pissed off.
I said fuck 'em and outside of one family reunion I went to only because my father was there and a couple of funerals, I've had no contact from that side of the family since.
Your Wedding Day IS certainly only about You and Diana ... anything else happening that day is incidental. Make it what you want it to be. We experienced family issues around Johnny's wedding and it was not only silly, but in the end didn't matter as all the "issues" turned out, as I knew they would, to be non issues. We all have enough real drama to deal with. Do what your heart tells you is right for you and so be it.