If I was one of your guests I would not be happy.

One thing is having to take time off, and get the fares, hotels etc.. to attend the wedding of someone who lives far away.

Even doing all this because your friend feels the need to get married in a particular location for deep-rooted sentimental reason would be OK.

But just because you want to marry somewhere warm and sunny... personally, I'd be pretty angry.

For me, a wedding is all about friends and family. Because our own live in three countries, our main struggle was finding ways to make the event easier to attend, we never set out to make their lives more difficult.

Why would you force your guests to go on a holiday they may not want at a time that might not be appropriate? Do they have to prove their love or friendship to you this way? And will you still be expecting gifts from them on top of the expense of time and money needed to attend your ceremony?

Sometimes it is cheaper to fly everyone off to a warm destination than organise a wedding locally (in that case, you pay for your guests flights and accommodation yourself) but this doesn't seem to be what you had in mind.

Thankfully, I've never been put into this position by a 'friend'. If you want to go somewhere warm and sunny, go there on honeymoon. To force all your aquaintances to go to a random place on a whim seems utterly disrespectful to me.

I'd be amazed if at least one of the people you invite doesn't feel this way. You just might never hear get to hear about it (because they can't be as rude as I'm able to be as a stranger on a forum).

I'm genuinely sorry to prick at your bubble. If you're sure enough about your friends to know, really KNOW, that they would want and welcome this plan, then you have my best wishes and sincere hopes that your ceremony is a success. If not, then I implore you for their sakes to think about it.