This is a 2nd marriage for both me and my FI. We're still fairly young -- I'm 28 and he's 27. I have one (extremely handsome) DS who my FI treats like his own. We're currently living together and enjoying our new life as a blended family.
We were originally planning a traditional wedding on his grandparents farm. Outdoor ceremony, big white tent for the reception, linens, china place settings, served buffet, etc. Then we decided on a family-only ceremony followed by a later reception for everyone (ceremony in the early afternoon, reception in the evening).
I just recently graduated with my BS and got my final student loan balance in the mail, and will begin repayments in 6 months. Now, we had a budget for the wedding and knew we could save the money. However, I'm feeling extremely guilty about spending that kind of $$$ on a wedding when I feel like we should be using it to put towards our nest egg, my student loans, saving for baby #2, etc.
Now we're really really leaning towards doing a small, family-only ceremony on a Friday evening followed by taking everyone out to dinner. Then, the next day, having a casual, come-as-you-are-go-as-you-please open house kind of reception. We'll still do the tent and have awesome food, drinks, etc. We'll have music, yard games, bonfire, etc. Since it's a celebration, I want to steer clear of making it feel too wedding-y....if that makes sense. It's important to both of us that we can invite everyone we want and just have one big party. It's almost like we're using our wedding as an excuse to just throw a party.
I'm between a rock and a hard place. Part of me feels like we've both already had the big weddings the first time around and it's frivolous to spend the $$ on our second weddings. However, I then remind myself that even though it's our second weddings, it's still our first wedding to each other. On the other hand, I don't want to look back on our wedding day and feel like we should've done something more formal if we go the casual party route.
*sigh* Suggestions? Input? Thoughts? Have you ever been to a super casual reception that was in celebration of someone's marriage (like an at-home reception?)