Some guardians expand the wedding feast on the grounds that they may be reproached if they do not invite the largest number of people. What is your guidance for them?

The questioner : Some guardians expand the wedding feast to include the largest number of relatives. If asked to limit the invitations, they say: Some people might hold it against us for not inviting them. So they expand the scope and go to wedding halls and the like. How should such people be guided?

The Shaykh : By Allah, there is no doubt that expanding wedding feasts falls under the category of extravagance at times. Therefore, it is better to limit it to a feast that is not of that magnitude. For this reason, you find people renting palaces for weddings for eight thousand or ten thousand riyals, and perhaps more. This burdens the husband and wife and is a waste of money. If people were to limit themselves to one feast, or as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said to 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf: If they were to limit themselves to this, a sheep or two sheep, and gather the neighbors and relatives in the house as was the custom of the first generation, that would be better and more blessed. And it has come in the hadith: