Families on opposite ends of the country- pre-wedding party for one side?

Hi all!


I'm from MA, my fiancé is from CA. We just got engaged in Disney this week while visiting his family. He has a HUGE family, and they are very family-orientated. He also has a large, very close friend group ("the boys" we refer to them as 😂). Meanwhile, I have like 9 members in my family, and we can hardly tolerate eachother. I have friends here that I definitely want to be apart of this, but there's almost no way I could see any of them being able to travel to CA. Currently we live in MA with my family, but we're thinking we should have the wedding in CA since so many of the guests are from there. We will most definitely fly out my parents from Philly to the wedding in CA, but were thinking maybe having a small pre-wedding party in MA for those of my family/friends here? We don't have a big backyard or house, so we would have to rent out a small hall (or if anyone has any other ideas for small, cheaper venues). It would be party-style rather than formal. Essentially, a little reception for those here in MA to enjoy with us. Does this sound like a good idea? What would you do? And if you would do the same, is there anything special you'd want to do for the pre-party? Thanks so much for all feedback 💛