When working with a very small budget, sometimes you have to think out of the box. We rented the lobby of the Tracy Transit Station (which looks like a retro train station) for our reception venue, which was perfect for our vintage theme. The location was beautiful and it was very affordable (even when you factor in the cost of renting tables and chairs, etc.).

You can only rent the lobby when the facility is closed to the public, which is why I took it down one star on flexibility, but that's actually a pretty wide window because it closes at 4:00 PM on Saturday and is closed all day on Sunday. Since we had our wedding over a 3-day weekend, we had it on Sunday, so it worked out well for us. And they let us stay until 1:00 AM (including clean-up), which is much later than most cities will allow you to stay. It was a really great experience for us.