My fiancee and I are struggling to come up with idea's for a dinner with immediate family and very close friends, without the ceremony and all the extra's.
He's been married once before and spent about 20K on his wedding which he says was "the cheaper route". He's a full time student and I'm working a full time job and about to become a full time student as well. Neither of us are religious so we want to skip the ceremony. We've talked about a quick court house wedding and then doing a dinner after. We're thinking about 50 people tops for the dinner, but I don't want anything traditional. I don't want to sit at a steakhouse or in a hotel ballroom. We rent a condo so we don't have a yard to do anything outside. His mother is a single parent working 2 jobs, my dad has zero income, I'm not close enough with my grandparents to ask for financial help, and my parents just opened their own business so they're stuggling to make ends meet as well. I'd LOVE to do something outside. I told him if we actually had a reception and ceremony that I want everything outside. The big white tent, music, the little orange/yellow carnival lights, vintage/rustic.
We've tossed around ideas of having a friend of mine who is an ordained minster marry us in a small, outdoor ceremony, but neither one of us actually cares about the ceremony. I'm stuck as far as where to go from here. I have no idea what things cost regarding flowers, open bar, catering, etc. I don't want a backyard BBQ because I feel as though that might come off more "redneck" than anything else. We thought about a destination wedding package, but my parents will NOT fly and with the economy the way it is, a lot of our family can't afford to fly, rent a car, hotel, etc.
ANY ideas?! HELP!!!!!