While I can appreciate what they are trying to say, I find that message just rude! We have close friends who were married in the celebrants lovely yard with only the brides brother and grooms sister as witnesses and they had lunch at a restaurant for all their friends and family to celebrate and we thought the whole thing was just wonderful.

Seriously, do it your way and remember it is all about you and your future husband - don't do it for anybody else! My husband and I went to Scotland to get married and had 8 friends there to celebrate and it was the best day of my life. Not to put a spanner in the works, but is it possible to have people outside the church where they can hear the ceremony and see you walk in and out together? A little chapel built on a friends property sounds like a perfect place to get married.

All the best x