I recently started posting on here (was a long-time lurker).
My FI and I were planning to have a large (by my standards) wedding with 150 people in October of 2015. We had a deposit down for our venue and had only informally told people of the date. As we started getting into planning, we began to realize that a large wedding just isn't what we wanted, financially or otherwise. I have always pictured something more intimate. My FI's family usually has larger weddings and that's why we went full-steam ahead into those plans. About a month or two ago, we finally decided to scale back drastically. We discussed it a great deal and decided that's really what is best for both of us.
As for the new wedding plans - we moved the date up to April 18 instead of October since we don't need to plan as much and save as much money. We plan on immediate family only: parents, our siblings, siblings significant others and our nieces and nephews. This will total about 20 people. We are planning on having the ceremony at a county park near where we live (making sure to rent chairs for everyone!). The ceremony would be outdoors, but we are going to reserve a shelter near restrooms. The shelter will be covered in case of rain. In case of really bad weather all day, our group is small enough that we can contact everyone and move the location. Afterwards, everyone will head to one of the nicer restaurants in our town for a meal (food and drinks completely covered by my FI and I). We'll have a nice cake there as well (one of the most important items, in my opinion!).
That's about as much as I have thought out. I have an acquaintance who is just beginning to get into photography who I have asked to take photos at the ceremony (we'll be paying her). We haven't found an officiant yet, but are thinking of asking my FSIL. She actually set us up. We never would have met without her and it would be really meaningful to us to have her do it. If she doesn't want to, I think we'll go with a justice of the peace, but I know we should probably figure that out soon.
How does this sound so far? What am I missing in regards to properly hosting our guests at a wedding like this? Sorry this turned out to be rather a long post. I just want a nice, simple day and I want everyone to enjoy and not have to worry about anything.