Okay, so my family wasn't blessed with lots of money. So my wedding budget is MAXIMUM $6500. I know that there's no way to have a sit-down dinner, so I'm planning on having a saturday NIGHT wedding (like, ceremony begins at 7:30 and reception ends at 10-11pm) with just appetizers or dessert and coffee... The main problem is since I live in such a big city (Houston), wedding venues can charge whatever the poop they want to and get away with it. So basically for me it's come down to using my church as a ceremony and reception venue, which is fine, but they have SO MANY RESTRICTIONS. Here are just a few No dancing AT ALL. No alcohol or even drinks that RESEMBLE alcoholic beverages (so sparkling cider is out). If the guest list exceeds 150, we're REQUIRED to use the in-house catering (which is fine, but no dessert/coffee, which is what i really wanted), the music selection has to go through a committee for approval, the photographer can only take pictures from the back of the chapel during the ceremony, and she only gets an hour and a half before the ceremony. And, my fiance is Lutheran and he wants a pastor from his church to officiate, so that just adds a whole nother burden to the load. So, after that long rant, I'm asking the following: Does anyone have any alternate ideas for ceremony/reception venues that are really inexpensive? I would just get married at city hall and get it over with, but my FI and I would love to have our entire families there, so the minimum number of people we can have is 100 (we have big families). Anything would help. Thanks