Sometimes invitations are sent with no expectation of someone attending or sending a gift. If all of the other uncles and aunts are invited, the groom may be sending you an invitation to avoid hurting your feelings. Or to avoid hurting someone else’s feelings.
For my oldest daughter’s wedding last year, the criteria to be invited was that the person had to have met the bride or groom. My daughter explained it as “we’ve been together two years. If I haven’t made the effort to see someone and introduce them to (name), then they obviously aren’t very close with me”. That criteria, and a very small wedding venue, meant that my only brother and his family were not invited to the wedding. I’m sure my brother didn’t care, but my parents were hurt.
This year our other daughter is getting married and they want a much larger wedding. The initial guest list was 275, but the venue can only hold 220. The couple has managed to pare the guest list down to 230, so they will be hoping that at least ten people decline.
If you haven’t seen the nephew in ten years he obviously won’t be upset if you don’t attend. Send a gift or don’t.
Ih, and for the poster who thought the meal was $35*2 (presumably for the uncle +1), I wish the caterers around here used that pricing! The caterer for last year charged $127/pp and we supplied the alcohol, the venue rental was extra. This year’s wedding is $4K for the venue rental (one of the cheapest we found) and will be between $125-$135 pp for the food. Alcohol will be supplied by the groom’s parents.