Has anyone cancelled their big wedding to have a small one?

Too many $$ tied up in it now to not go through with the plan. Ours isn't huge, but there are days when I think smaller is better. But it's pretty much a done deal (contracts and such) by now, and it's going to be fabulous!

Same as OldFashionedBride here-- three months out and I would LOVE to have a small, intimate wedding sooner rather than later. I'm burnt out over the planning. But it's just too late for that at this point.

Were just having our parents there..we had an idea for a big wedding but thankfully we hadn't put down any deposits so we didn't exactly cancel but we changed our minds

Yes, I canceled mine and decided to elope instead, because how expensive it was becoming. We will probably move date up soon. We are just having a total of between two and 6 people and a dinner party after in a month or so.

We have several couples move their plans from large weddings to smaller more intimate weddings or even elopements. Some, who could not afford to cancel their venues and forfeit their deposits, cut way back on the guest list, the type of food served etc. to simplify the last phase of planning. Most of our couples found their vendors willing to work with them to provide the wedding they wanted. I remind all of our couples to remember this is their wedding and it should reflect their wishes and their lives.

We were planning a large wedding (150-180 people) and budget of $12,000 - $15,000. We decided that money would be much better to put down on a house and have backed out of our contracts with plenty of time to get refunds on our deposits.

Our new plans? Not 100% decided, but will make a decision very very soon. Either a beachfront wedding in Virginia Beach, where FH's family vacations every summer OR we will marry atop the mountain overlooking downtown Pittsburgh. Either way, the ceremony will include only us and parents - possibly siblings...

I should mention - we will likely rent out a pavilion at a park or set up some tents in FBIL's backyard and order some fried chicken, macaroni salad, etc. and have a small party. Maybe will hook up an iPod to a set of speakers and that's about it!

I kind of did this. We orginally planned for June 13, 2015 & changed it to September 26, 2015. It was just getting out of hand. Every one and their opinions. Our vision was becoming everyone else's. So we called the June wedding off, chose 9/26/15 and are now working behind the scenes with our own plans. Probably after the holidays we will announce our new date. Its just less stressful this way.

We did the reverse - FH wanted something "small where all his friends could come and party" - typical man request. All his friends and their spouses live out of state and probably would not come all the way here for a "cake and punch" thing especially since they all have a ton of kids. Furthermore, FH never took into consideration MY family - some of them would like to see the wedding and would be willing to travel from other countries and states to do so. Again, I had to explain that no one would want to come or they would attend begrudgingly because no one wants to book a flight and hotels for a wham, bam, thank you, mam hour long wedding. We are still having only about $100 people and we will spend less than $7k.

I definitely think of a small destination wedding or elopement now that planning is taking over our lives, but FH won't have it. I actually saw the world's cutest dress yesterday that would be perfect for an elopement, knee length tulle netting, a little volume ala 1950s with illusion neckline and some applique on the bodice...I seriously wanted to cancel my gown order and just elope to Paris in that moment!

But alas - the money issue rears its ugly head and all of those deposits would be wasted.

I suggest you check out the blog Intimate Weddings and look at their real wedding section. Lots of beautiful weddings along with some great ideas. I also don't think you need to sacrifice your overall vision or dream if you have a smaller wedding. I do not regret our choice. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Now sure how small you're talking, but we went small compared to a lot of weddings. We invited 51 people and were hoping for about 40 (42 came). Ours wasn't a budget issue, but more of just wanting something small and intimate. We invited immediate family and close friends. We didn't invite children (except the flower girl) and for family we only invited aunts/uncles. Our wedding had all the bells and whistles of a traditionally larger wedding (I've seen weddings with 12 people that did the same).

Shortly after I started making deposits we thought about it...we still joke "We should have just eloped!" The whole process is just so stressful, but I know it will be worth it once it all comes together.

Yes, change... I'm having a civil wedding. Then have the pastor give us the blessings at the reception. Reception is paid off, DJ, Photographer, and all is ready.

Since we're both college students, we couldnt justify spending $5k on a single day for about 70 of our nearest and dearest and some that we'd never met/only met a few times.

We moved up our date about 5 months and had a nice small ceremony this past Friday with a total of 24 people including DH and myself. The total cost on it was about $700 including everything but my dress.

We did!! In the beginning, I wanted a big wedding, and for all of these people to come and celebrate our day with us. But then I realized this day is only about the two of us. We are doing what our $$ permits us to do. At the en of the day, it is about us, and our love for eachother.

Cristi....almost date twins! and matching attitudes.

Hubby and I did this in 2004. When I was planning our wedding in 2004, invites had gone out and Hubby got laid off. It was just too stressful financially to continue with the wedding we had planned, so we pulled the plug. I called our friends and family and told them that we were going to postpone. This was in April and our wedding was scheduled for June. In August of that year, we decided to just do it. I already had my dress made, Hubby had already paid for his tux rental, MOH had her dress and her Hubby the BM had his tux. We got married on their back deck with just the four us of plus my dad, the reverend and a photographer that the reverend referred for $200. We ordered food from a local Italian restaurant, danced our first song to a CD of At Last and partied. It was PERFECT and stress free

I hear this all the time. If you are waking up every morning dreading the planning process and the money going out the door at record speed, it's time to switch. Weddings have gotten so huge and out of control that many of my couples tell me it's just no fun any more, and some of my absolute favorite weddings have been under 50 guests. I had one last weekend with four guests. It was lovely.

FI sure wants to. I know it's a lot harder for guys to understand why anyone would want to pay this much money for one day LOL. I have explained to him that we have entirely too much money spent already on this date. We would lose all of our down deposits and I already have the save the dates and invites printed. We have purchased too much personalized stuff and would owe too many people money because we have had some financial help since we started planning!

We started out with 150 people and a $10k budget. It is now 100 people with less than a $5k budget. We have a lot of family and friends who will be doing the expensive stuff. My FH's brother is a DJ, we have a family friend who is a photographer and a DOC that goes to our church. My FH is a Mason and we will be getting married at his lodge as well having the reception there ( our church is not completed yet). I also found a great deal on a caterer for $14 a person ( this will be southern cuisine). We just found ways to save $$.