I'll be getting married in my fiance's hometown later this year. I wouldn't say that I am from the "city" by any means but I have lived a lot of different places around the world, love to travel, and would consider my style more cosmopolitan. My fiance is from a small, rural Southern town, and we decided to get married there to save cost as well as for me to have my vision of a "Southern Belle" wedding.
One small issue - he and his family are complaining about the costs for EVERYTHING. I make more money than my partner, and will likely be putting in a bulk of $$ for the wedding (my parents also offered to help some). His family is paying for the rehearsal, but will not be putting forwards any additional funds.
Literally anything I mention (like live florals, fancy centerpieces) they have commented that it is a "waste" of money or I should consider something less expensive like renting flowers. His sister also recently got married a few years ago and I have noticed my FMIL is making a lot of comparisons to her wedding and how it was already planned by this time (we still have 6 months to go) and it's making me feel like she is taking shots at my family and my process of wedding planning. I feel like it's my wedding and I should be able to be picky and choosy about what I want vs just going with their hometown vendors and people they know (nothing against this, but I am looking for a more classy and elegant feel, and a lot of the vendors feel very homegrown and back-yard wedding esque).
My fiance is taking a lot of his cues from FMIL and has been very critical of costs as well, even though it was his idea to have a large wedding, not mine. Just looking for some guidance on how I can handle this and feel supported without going off on my FH and his family in the next 6 months I have. When I first started planning my wedding I was excited and now it just seems like a depressing process where everyone is critical and complaining about everything I do.