Elopement, followed by reception?

Re: Elopement, followed by reception?

• MobKaz member

  

  October 2013 edited October 2013

  av713 said: We honestly don't have the money for a wedding, so we thought we could go to the courthouse and get married but still have a party for close friends and family to be with us, celebrating our special day. I really don't know if this is a good idea, how to plan it, how friends and family will react?...
  
  Really lost... any help is appreciated.
  
  
  
  The party is what will incur the greatest cost, so I am not sure why you would have a courthouse wedding when that will be the least of your expenses.  

  
  

  
  

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• JMalettas member

  

  October 2013

   Going to the courthouse to get married isn't an elopement. Although, that's on the more irrelevant side, and I must agree with the PP. The cost of the ceremony isn't generally where your expenses are going to be high. Regardless, you need to pay for a marriage license & for someone to marry you. So, really, you could find a local park to get married in, bring your license & your JP, and do an outdoor ceremony. (A cheaper option than a JP, is to have a close friend ordain themselves online to marry you. It's cheap, & doesn't take long at all). If this is a route you may want to go, do your research & find which local parks you can get married in, free of charge. You could invite *very* close family & friends, & keep it small. Host a small reception at your place afterwards, make your own appies, & keep it on the 'smaller budget' side. You'd be *very* surprised with how much you can do on a small budget, if you know what your options are, and how to tackle it. 

  
  

   There's nothing wrong with a courthouse marriage, and if that's what you're leaning towards anyways, you should definitely do what makes you happy! If you think this is your only option, then maybe some of my suggestions will give you some ideas/inspiration. There are ways to do things on very small budgets!

  
  

   Good luck to you!

  
  

   *J

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• SP29 member

  

  October 2013

  I agree that the ceremony is the cheapest part of the wedding, it's the reception that costs you.

  
  

  If the reason you are considering your current plans is solely for budget reasons, look around on the Budget Wedding board.

  
  

  Remember, a wedding does not HAVE to occur at a big banquet hall or ballroom venue to be "a wedding". There are options such as the outdoor ceremony, having the ceremony at a church then the reception in the church basement, a daytime reception involving cake a punch only, or apps and cocktails only, an evening ceremony/reception (after 7/8pm) with cocktails and apps only, having a small wedding with limited guest list, a backyard BBQ wedding, etc....

  
  

  Best is to decide what you REALLY want out of your wedding and plan from there. As long as you are hosting your guests properly, there are no rules on what you must or must not have, unlike the wedding industry tries to tell you. 

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