Not having the wedding of my dreams

qianar

i need a little advice I'm getting married next summer to the love of my life. The only problem is that he doesn't want the big wedding I always dreamed of,but instead would prefer to get married at the justice of peace,I just recently convinced him of having a small intimate party afterward. My only argument is I believe we could have this ultimate wedding without spending thousands that we don't have. Granted we've been together since we were teenagers and have 2 children. I need a little help with this.

Bean32

Why not work on some sort of compromise like a backyard BBQish wedding? You can have larger number of people and do the "wedding of your dreams" type stuff, but you don't have to worry about formalities, spending a whole bunch, or making your FI uncomfortable.

Jamy0807

I actually agree with Bean. Having a wedding at your home can still give you a beautiful wedding without killng you financially. Hire an off-premise caterer, rent a tent, and get a DJ. You're all set.

Bean32

Cook yourself (or "hire" a family member to do it) - use an iPod - DIY things - etc. There are lots of things you can do to cut costs.

What would make your wedding your "dream wedding"? Once you figure that out, you can figure out how much of your budget you need for that and then work everything else around what would make the day perfect for you and your FI.

angel33284

You can still have a great wedding without all the bells and whistles. I think weddings come down to people and not places and things.

Find a restaurant with a decent size meeting room. They tend to charge a lot less than a catering hall. 

Get married at the justice of the peace, but then have a friend or relative perform a ceremony before the reception begins. Because it's going to be symbolic and not legal they don't even need to be ordained.

Use silk flowers or you can get some decent ones from the local super market.

Search the local college for photography students and offer them $1000 to shoot your wedding and hand over the files. There's always lots of talented people who are still up and coming.

Rent a PA system and make some iTunes playlists on an iPod. As long as you won't be too disappointed if there's no dancing this will work out fine.

Plan your wedding to end at 10 or 11 and then schedule an after party at a kick ass nightclub. This way people who wanted to dance won't be disappointed if the iPod idea fails.

rachelk456

I think those are all really great ideas. I subscribe to a lot of wedding blogs and the ones that comes to mind as having a lot of neat backyard-type wedding ideas are oncewed.com and projectwedding.com

Cackle6

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_pennsylvania-philadelphia_not-having-wedding-of-dreams?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:105Discussion:d82bccb9-0c9d-42bc-b275-ea2618944e00Post:a1dd52d7-258d-464b-8902-3d35b05ab26d">Re: Not having the wedding of my dreams</a>:
[QUOTE] Get married at the justice of the peace, but then have a friend or relative perform a ceremony before the reception begins. Because it's going to be symbolic and not legal they don't even need to be ordained. 
Posted by angel33284[/QUOTE]

<div>This is EXACTLY what I want to do for my wedding someday, but I thought it was really really frowned upon. Glad to hear someone actually recommend doing it! :)</div><div>
</div><div>And I agree with everything Angel said as well. There are lots of ways to have a wonderful wedding on a budget. I think if you talk to your FI and let him know that it can be done and not break the bank, hopefully he can relax a bit and you guys can compromise a little bit more so you both have some of what you want.</div>

shirenagennine

Look into it and plan the basics... then go to him, (butter him up) then explain him how this would really make you happy, show him the costs and how you guys can make it happen and ask him if he is willing to do it for you!

angel33284

Remember that it is traditional of guests to give a gift and at the very least cover their plate at the event. You should get most of your money back.

qianar

Wow! Your ideas were awesome and I'd like to thank you and everyone else for such great ideas.Im going to put my head together with my fiance and incorporate some of things...can't wait to see how things are going to turn out.Thanks again!