Thought you lovely ladies on the etiquette board may enjoy this.
A dear friend of mine, Rebecca, got married in October. I was over the moon excited for her when she got engaged end of August, and offered my services to whatever she needed. In panic, she informed me she had decided to get married about a month and a half after the engagement and needed help in planning. No problem. Her wedding budget ? $1000. From start to finish. Now, I don't scoff at any amount for a wedding, but geez. Plan for the wedding you can afford. Rebecca wanted to get married in Frankenmuth (I know out of staters may not be familiar with that. Huge tourist area, very expensive.) so we worked together to get some details nailed down. Found an outdoor venue that wasn't crazy expensive (that she later informed me she never paid for. In fact, she told the company a different day for her wedding, and still had it there so they did not know...) and the reception would be at a park under a pavilion not too far away. It was mid 60's that day, and VERY overcast and windy, so it started off miserable.
The reception was that of a horror movie. I swear. She had a friend of hers cook on one of the park grills, with no foil, right on the dirty grates. And served one piece of chicken at a time. No drinks, no salads. Just your one piece of dirty chicken. There was no music, no table decorations, just the graffiti on the park picnic tables. To make matters even better, there were no bathrooms. I think FI and I stayed for about a half hour before nature called and I was starving and needed to use the bathroom.
As we were leaving, she then informed her guests (Quite literally made an announcement) that she appreciated everyone joining her on HER (not "their") special day, and that the next day they were flying to their all inclusive honeymoon to the Bahamas.
Sorry for the long rant. Just had to share.