After going to multiple weddings of friends where they all tried to out do each other (600 people or more, minimum spent was $40,000) we saw that the couple being married had no time to enjoy themselves, in many cases, they didn't even get to eat the meal that cost several hundred dollars a head. They were just shuffled from place to place, and when they weren't taking pictures with each table of guests, they were trying to get to talk to each person who came in between the dances, speeches, pictures, ceremony etc. They almost all got to the end of the night and just went to bed, exhausted.

My girlfriend at the time said "fuck that" and asked me what I thought about going on a vacation and getting married on the beach. Done. It was something like $500 for the ceremony and they took pictures and gave them to us. Then we went to a restaurant. We posted the pictures, and everyone saw thay nobody was invited, so we didn't get many people asking why they weren't invited. We didn't wake up early and have to spend hours getting ready. We slept in and had a nice relaxing day. We got to enjoy our time with each other and had zero stress, hell the appointment to get our wedding permit was that morning, like 2 hours before and we were not worried at all.

1971 Shotgun wedding in Her parents house with family and friends. Yes, we are working on 53 years, so the Big wedding does not make a 'life'.

Got married in '18, about 200 people. Wedding at our small church, reception at a place we rented. Had catering as well, but family made the cake. Spent about 8k, but family helped pay for it. It was pretty special, but I'd say weddings like that are only worth it if family is helping. We are still together, and had our first child recently!

About 40 people and it was too much. And that was trying to limit it to as little as possible. Was very stressful, should have just taken her to get married secretly and told everyone "we got married, deal with it".

It was pretty simple. About a half hour before the ceremony my love started getting ready. The bridesmaids about 15 min before. My best man showed up about 10 min before and it all culminated in a wonderful steak, shrimp, and potato ceremony. That is all.

Courthouse to sign documents and then about 30 family/friends in our back yard. Potluck!

Justice of the Peace. Spouse's parents paid the judge, I bought them dinner, no complexity or drama. Dirt cheap.

Much better than a lavish wedding.

Got married at the court house. Only immediate family invited and we took them out to a late lunch after. We had a small but nice reception later in the year when family/friends could travel. It was still small. A close friend did the cooking and it was very simple and pleasant.

On the other hand. We have gone to several friends weddings that spent a LOT on their wedding/reception, 1 out of 5 are still married today. All of them went into debt over it (10k+) and at least the only one still together is the only couple that has kids. Not sure how they are really doing though but they are still together.

Church wedding at my wife's church, I think we had 140 RSVP. Outside ceremony, reception in the church. We did finger sandwiches, coffee, iced tea and juice boxes, and cake. Smaller dinner reception at my FiL's house for close family (my wife has 6 siblings and all the others have kids) where we had a chef friend roast an entire pig lechon style.

2013, total budget was $3K out of pocket. Church only charged us an honorarium for the pastor, the rest of the money was for food, the dresses and suits for my two groomsmen, which we prepared ourselves.

Unexpected things: we did nice finger sandwiches for the adults (like bacon jam with blue cheese, spanish ham with cheddar, etc) with PB&J and juice boxes for the kids (there's a lot of kids in the friends and family.) The adults ended up eating at least half the PB&J and drinking half the juice boxes. So, if you do a kid option, unless it's specifically marked for kids, the adults are going to slam into it. We had plenty, so it wasn't a problem.

Had a big fancy wedding. Our marriage lasted 11y. If I ever decide to do it again, going minimum requriements. Fuck spending money like to start your lives together. That's just me though

We got married in our backyard... Less then twenty people, and had the reception at a nearby hotel ballroom. We catered olive garden. Think we spent $500 total and it was a good day. Still married.