Court house wedding

View Quoted Comment My thoughts exactly. The ceremony can be almost free. If you are still paying for a big reception then you might as well have a simple ceremony... maybe at the reception space, a park or a church.

The reception is the most expensive part. I would recommend maybe finding a park or a church and have your ceremony at the same place as the reception. We did our ceremony and reception at a church and only paid $400. Some may be cheaper and some parks can be free!

I would recommend taking a trip down to your local marriage bureau to get a sense of what it is like to get married there. My fiancé and I initially thought about getting married at the court but later decided to have a wedding. When we went to get our marriage license we were incredibly surprised by how busy the court was. all of the weddings were held at a counter right next to people who were there to get their licenses. It was like going to the DMV. If we had chosen to have our wedding there without visiting first, I would’ve been upset. I don’t know if you live in a busy city but if you do I would strongly recommend going to see the courthouse to get a sense of what it would be like to have the ceremony there.

View Quoted Comment To be honest the reception is the part that hits your budget the hardest. So don't not have the ceremony you want because of money. Ceremonies realistically are the cheaper part.

View Quoted Comment Yup, all of this. I don’t see how you are saving much money by doing this. The reception is what people spend money on. Look at a cake and punch non meal time reception or maybe breakfast or lunch.

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This! The ceremony can be the cheapest part. The first time I got married the ceremony was free since his family were members of the UU church we did it at. You can get a really cheap dress and a cheap bouquet from the grocery store and have FH dress up in nice pants and a shirt. The reception is where the money is.

Also if you do your research you can do a wedding for less than a few grand with everything. Weddings don't have to drain your $$

The reception is the most expensive part of the wedding. If you do a courthouse wedding, you could have cake and champagne afterwards for immediate family if it is held at a non meal time. Or you could do a lunch or dinner afterwards for immediate family and the cost would be low.

Nothing wrong with courthouse weddings, they are just as real and valid as any other marriage.

Sometimes the "site fee" for a wedding ceremony can be expensive so I think going to a courthouse could be a good savings and be lovely for pics! Some places have pretty gardens or cool architecture. Check out these...

Santa Barbara courthouse

Austin courthouse

San Francisco city hall

View Quoted Comment Those are beautiful we live in Chicago

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Is this your courthouse? Then yes!

The poster who shared her courthouse wedding pics was from Philadelphia and they were gorgeous!! I am sure the Chicago courthouse is stunning!!!

Best wishes!

Not a bad idea! My future brother in law went to Jamaica with his (now) wife and they got married there, just them. Then they had a reception when they got back!

Agreed with everyone else- it looks like the courthouse could be stunning, but if you still want to do a big reception, you won't be saving much money.

My ceremony cost $300. My reception, minus the cake, flowers, deco, etc, cost well, a lot more lol. My venue is all-inclusive, which means it includes a lot of the big budget breakers- Tables, chairs, linens, silverware, food, and most importantly, alcohol. (I say most importantly because alcohol is a big expense)

The way to save money is to keep the guest count low, DIY as much as you can, and get italian or BBQ food because those are normally the cheapest.

Good luck!

I think it's weird to go to the courthouse then have a large reception. One, it's kind of like Hey, we didn't want you to see us get married. But party with us!"

Two, the party is the part that cost money. Marriage licence was $85? Everything else was the big money.

Just get married at the courthouse and go to dinner with family after. Or have a VERY small wedding.