I''m so upset and I don''t know what to do. My parents retired and moved to Africa almost 10 years ago. My dad is originally from South Africa and my mom lived there for several years before they got married and moved to the states. When I told them my FI and I were getting married they said they were planning on making a trip come for the wedding. This is part of the reason we''re having a wedding instead of just eloping. I''m not close to anyone else in my small family so they were going to be the only family I had there. Well today I got an email from my mom saying they just received the statement for their Smith Barney account (retirement savings) and it''s been depleted by 30% so they can''t afford to come. They estimated the trip would cost $20,000 and it''s just not feasible with their savings having taken such a huge hit. That said, that price is for business class tickets. I priced out coach and it would be $5,000 total for airfare, hotel for 2 weeks and a rental car. My parents are in the mid and late 60''s and I understand how hard 24 hours flying in coach class is especially at that age, but dammit, this is important to me and I thought would be to them! I''m so mad at them which makes me feel so guilty and like I''m acting like a spoiled brat!!! I''m there only child and they are the one''s who chose to move to the other side of the world to retire. As a result, we''re missing out on each others lives completely and that upsets me already anyway. They gave us $5,000 to help with the wedding and I''ve told them to take it back and use it for the cost of plane tickets instead. I don''t know what to do or how to feel. I have no one to walk me down the isle, no family at all to support me, and I feel a bit like canceling the whole thing and eloping so I don''t have to spend my whole wedding day thinking about how my parents aren''t there with me. The idea of having our wedding as planned without them just seems kind of sad and depressing. At this point if we cancelled, we''d lose a couple of thousand dollars in deposits and wedding dress costs. I don''t know what to do. One of the bright spots for me in this whole wedding planning nightmare was getting to see my parents, and now I feel like the whole day is going to be focused on explaining to people why my parents aren''t there.