Alternative to a Wedding?

The bigger the guest list, the higher the cost. If you want to have a micro wedding, you can pay for dinner for your closest friends and family (10-20 people). Others have a cake and punch reception in mid-afternoon.

Receiving gifts isn't one of the most important things about getting married. It shouldn't even be a factor in the decision making process. I'm also not sure why you think you need to host a house party. There are tons of venue options and most weddings don't take place at home. There are many ways to save money in wedding planning. Keep the guest list to a minimum, don't have a large bridal party, opt for cheaper catering like BBQ or Italian, skip optional things like favors and decor.

My friend eloped in an intimate ceremony and only had a dinner after with his and her family.

Depends on your budget. We are doing a full wedding with 250 guests for $9000

Depends on what you consider expensive and how big your guest list is. A JP ceremony with cake and punch in a city park is beautiful and checks all the boxes

You don’t have to spend a fortune to have a wedding. To keep venue costs down, look at public spaces like parks that you can rent for cheaper (sometimes free) rather than the expensive price tag on wedding venues. For catering, plan to have a cake and punch reception instead of planning over a meal time and hosting a full meal. You can also do catering through restaurants rather than caterers and sometimes save some money, Italian and Mexican are usually cheaper options. If you want the designer dress without the price tag, look for consignment shops on your area, watch for boutique sales and trunk shows (some private boutiques participate in national bridal week sales 7/20/19-7/27/19), look for shops that sell discontinued and overstock dresses off the rack, and check out David’s Bridal. I’m too weary of buying online because I am not built like the models in the photos, I have to try dresses on. Photography is VERY expensive in our area, most started around $2500 and went up significantly from there for quality pros. I’ve had luck with a couple photographers customizing packages to reduce cost and come within my budget- just be up front about what you can afford and want to have, they will let you know if they can or can’t work with you. There are lots of ways to save and tons of advice on cutting costs, it just depends on your budget, guest list, and what is most important to you. Gifts are definitely not one of the important things about a wedding, and if you don’t want to host your family and friends to celebrate your marriage why would you expect people to give you gifts?

View Quoted Comment This. Want guests? Then host them even if only cake & punch afterwards (have the wedding at a non meal-time like 2 pm).

Pretty sure you just described a wedding lol
Look at local parks for venues, ours is $300 for the whole day!
I definitely agree with some of the pp, you could get away with just cake and punch if you do it at a non meal time (like 2-3 pm) Sams club has great cakes for like $100
Ask around your local Facebook to find photographers.

There's elopement/micro or courthouse where you could still have a few friends and family and you can always have a reservation of some kind afterwards like lunch/dinner. I did courthouse the first time and afterward we went to dave and busters lol. It's definitely doable!

Getting gifts is not o e of the most important things in a wedding. Actually it should be one of the least important. Look up how to do a budget wedding.

All I want is a wedding dress, wedding cake and pictures. My fiancé and I our going to marry either in a small church with a different officiant or another pretty place which costs about $700. We will have immediate family only and I'm debating on asking a couple of friends. Afterwards, we will go to a restaurant to celebrate. I went to the courthouse the first time around and I refuse to do that this time.

So you want the wedding and all that comes with it without the wedding? If you don't want a wedding then elope. You can wear a wedding dress while eloping. If you want everything that comes with a wedding then guess what. It's a wedding no matter how you do it. You don't have to have people at your house. We did a destination wedding in Vegas with a 2 hour reception and partying on the strip. Less wedding like but still a wedding.

PS gifts are the least important part. Maybe leave that off your list of must haves.