My FI and I were planning an intimate ceremony, followed by a larger reception. As we were deciding who to invite, the list grew to nearly 200 people, and we weren't even finished adding names! We want to celebrate with our loved ones, but the mounting expenses for just one day are not appealing. His (valid) concern is that he doesn't want us to start our marriage in debt, or arguing about money. So he suggested eloping (and using the money for a great honeymoon), or having something extremely small (vows and dinner with our nearest and dearest). As this is my 2nd marriage (his 1st) I'm more than okay with either. The issue is, even something small (4 children between us, parents - divorced/remarried, grandparents and CLOSEST friends, we're still close to 40 people. We would naturally foot the bill, but those numbers aren't so small either! The idea of eloping is becoming more appealing; I can live with potential hurt feelings if we leave EVERYONE out...I just don't want to leave out our children, who have been anxiously waiting for us to get married. However, if we elope/honeymoon, we don't want to take the children...how can we find a compromise between the two? Or can we?