Weddingbee boards

My mother and sisters are hosting my bridal shower however I am working on it alot as well. We have a limited guest list for the wedding which has been eaten up by my big Cuban family, my FH's law firm and family and a few friends. There are many of our mutual friends we cant invite b/c we have a budget and a limit and just cant. I cant include them in my count b/c I ate up all my invites with family and only have three girlfriends coming and my fiancee is paying for everything - so he had a little more leeway on his invites (altohugh I went crazy when he went over his initial allowance, which we agreed upon of 30 people) for our original 60 person count - which is now uped to 80. Anyways, my bridal shower is at a family friends home & not an extreme cost. There are many of my mom's friends who know they arent invited to the wedding but would love to attend the bridal shower.

 I have thrown the idea out there to some of my friends (mutual friends of FH & I) to attend the bridal shower although they arent wedding invites - everyone knows we are on a budget and a super limited guest list. My fiancee's a partner at a law firm and just with his partners & their wives its 20 people - and he cant invite one and not the others - he's been there 13 years. Anyways, I have gotten mixed reviews from girlfriends regarding inviting them to the bridal shower although they arent invited to the wedding. Yes, I have friends from different ethinicity - including Hispanic and Caucasian. Being Hispanic myself, I see nothing wrong with it; however, many of my caucasian girlfriends have shunned the idea & said I shouldnt invite peopel to the bridal shower who arent invited to the wedding.

 Everyone knows I am not paying for the wedding, we are on a budget; however, i want to share at least one wedding event with them. I even told them dont bring a gift I just want to share the moment with them. What is everyone's feel on this?

 Being that FH & I are different backgrounds ( I'm Cuban-American and he's an Irish Texas boy who transplanted to South Florida 19 years ago) we both are a bit clueless when it comes to etiquette to please the masses.

 I have even received a warning email from one of our mutual friends saying "save yourself the ill-will" by the inviting nonwedding invitees to the bridal shower.

OMG!! Help?

Thanks for the advice ladies. Hopefully we will buy a home in the months or year following the wedding so we'll have a big party then & make sure everyone's included.

I would have to agree with the other ladies and say it's perfectly fine to want to have a more inclusive celebration with these people, but I would create a wholly separate event.  A shower isn't JUST presents, it's also a meet-and-greet opportunity to your wedding guests.  Honestly, think about people chit-chatting about wedding details, expressing their excitement about the big day, in front of someone who isn't invited.  It doesn't really matter what the reason is--it still wouldn't feel good to be the one not invited and have to be present for that sort of stuff. 

It really is a shame that you guys aren't able to invite many of your mutual friends--those are the people who spend the most time with the two of you as a couple I assume, and they're the ones who will hopefully be around to support you as you grow as a couple through the years.  I would throw a fun BBQ or themed party after the wedding--serve great drinks, food, maybe even have a running slideshow of your wedding portraits playing on a TV or laptop somewhere.