Courthouse wedding this afternoon!

"You don't need that fluff to show that are commited to each other! Take the time to celebrate yourselves"

I wish MFP had a like button sometimes. A really smart woman.

@sakura

This thread changed my mind about courthouse weddings, they can actually be beautiful spend your money on yourselves and save your money for a new life together, instead of a big wedding. Your story was beautiful. i loved how your family was a big part of everything

Congrats!

We are discussing doing the same, as he's in School still and we really have no money. He'll be in school another 2.5 years, and we're talking about getting married next year sometime.

I say save the money. My parents also did a courthouse wedding, and renewed their vows a year later and did the whole ceremony. We're thinking of doing the same, just for money's sake, since his school loans are totaling $100k, we really are saving the money every which way!

Congrats again, enjoy the honeymoon!

Save the money and buy a nice house! That's the way I'm looking at it. I don't want a big extravagant wedding either.

Congratulations! : )

Congratulations!

Any friends/relatives don't like it, tell them it's your wedding and they can go all out on theirs if they wish.

However, with a wedding comes a generous portion of wedding gifts. A small gathering (reception if you will) will save you the stress of a wedding, while giving you and your friends and family a change to celebrate (and give you some gifts) this wonderful occasion.

Again, congratulations!

Congratulations.

Good for you for doing what you want. Big white weddings aren't for everyone, and you certainly shouldn't do it just because other's say so!!

Have a wonderful wedding day

I wish I had had a courthouse wedding. Enjoy the simplicity of it just being the two of you.

we had a big wedding and wish we hadn't. we hardly remember it (being pulled in a million different directions to talk to everyone), got one bite of food, someone took all my champagne and I got none of that either, and we so wish we had saved the money. enjoy your day, it's about the marriage anyway, not the wedding.

My sister had that same problem. By the time the photographer was finished, there wasn't much food left for the wedding party... other than cake. LOL!

p.s. There is nothing wrong with a big, formal wedding, but we went to several venues that got out the "big book" with all the have-tos (you have to use this, you have to pick chair covers, you have to have this minimum, etc.) and we realized we just wanted to get married and have a party that felt like us. No regrets! I would do it again the same way tomorrow.

I wanted a townhall wedding with maybe half a dozen family and friends then go to a nice restaurant. I wanted just to get a nice dress I would wear again and buy a bunch of flowers by walking into a florist on the way there. This was largely because my family is tiny and my mum had died about 18 months beforehand. I also strongly believe that you put the effort and time into the marriage and not into the wedding.

My husband wanted a church wedding, with 200 people and a ballroom and dancing and a private cinema etc etc etc

We had 20 people to a small church affair followed by a meal in a tiny castle (we had about a dozen people stay for the few days before there too). We had a follow up meal for about 20 of his family who couldn't come to the main deal and a recpetion/do for about 30 of his colleagues (champagne, cocktails, nibbles, cakes).

It was still a total logistical nightmare and bucket load of work and stress (largely for me, I used to do a job where event planning was a component, which i hated a s a job and I hated even more when it was personal). I used to keep waking up with nightmares in the run up to it. I still hated all the hoo haa on the day and got so stressed about spending so much money. My husband now regrets putting me through it, because he saw how unhappy and stressed I got over the whole thing.

If we had it over again, we would totally go the townhall route.

As we don't have it to do over again, we are going to renew our vows sometime. On a beach somewhere. Maybe Hawaii, maybe Bali. Something like that. Me and him, no one else. Very simple. on our birthday (we have the same birthday). I'm thinking next year , or the year after.

My sister had a courthouse wedding

I am fine with courthouse weddings but I was very upset about this one because 14 yrs earlier when they got engaged she asked me to be her maid of honor and then they did this in 3 days and didn't tell anyone so no one but their friends where they live could go

if they had planned a courthouse wedding though I would have been all for it

I have NO interest in a big wedding. If I ever bother getting married, I want to go to the courthouse with just the parents and best friends present, then follow that with a "reception" in my favorite bar where everyone who wants to say congratulations has a drink with us. All the money saved will go toward an utterly luxurious honeymoon. It's great you're doing things exactly the way you want to do them... It's your wedding, not anyone else's.

And CONGRATULATIONS!!

Congratulations!

I am in the process of planning my 2014 wedding right now. We're paying for everything ourselves and I have saved up $15,000. (I do a lot of saving and investing, so this is special money dedicated to wedding.) I have been doing tons of research and have realized we can either...

1) Spend the $15k on one night with about 50-100 friends and family.

2) Take 6 weeks to travel in Hawaii, Fiji, and New Zealand.

We haven't made our final decision yet. Mostly, I feel REALLY selfish wanting to spend the money on just us traveling. However, we've been to a gazzilion weddings. They are fun, of course, but also gone in a flash -- and been there, done that.

I don't know for sure what we'll end up doing, but I'm leaning toward spending the money on an adventure of a lifetime and then just having an at-home party a few weeks after we get home.

I know a lot of people will be disappointed in my decision, but I've worked really long and hard to save up this money, and I don't think I want to blow it on buffet food, flowers, and a dress for just one night of fun.