Justice of the Peace or Wedding?

What can you afford to do?

What's more important to you -- getting married or being married?

Have a big blowout wedding with open bar and fancy centerpieces. Spend too much on your dress. Go into debt. Ride in on an elephant and impress your friends.

Or go to the JOP and out to dinner.

Kim I'm sorry but without knowing you how could we possibly tell you the right thing to do?

^^^^agree to Heathers post.

Look at you Heather!!! I love it!

Well if u can't wait to get married ive seen alot of this happening : they get married at the justice of the peace then they still have the wedding. Or u can just wait less then a yr like me & just have the wedding of ur dreams thats what im doing. U can find places to have ur wedding that doesn't cost that much if u are in a low budget. BUt i would go for the wedding because u would have the opt to walk down the asile & see ur FH & all & plus celebrate with ur friends & fam!!! As a little girl i have always dreamed of my wedding day & walking down the asile!!!

LOl Love it Heather!

Its up to you but i will tell you that out of all the people i know who did Justice of The Peace, after looking back they all wish they had a wedding.

Just wanted some opinions not smart comments, thank u

It's not really possible to give helpful opinions without knowing anything about your situation.

If you want a wedding and will regret ever not having one, then wait and make it happen. If just being married and your friends and family not being there isn't a deal breaker for you, it's definitely better to go JOP. It's all up to you though

It totally depends on your situation, but it also doesn't have to be all or nothing. A good compromise is having the JOP marry you and then going to dinner with friends/family.

I'm sure ill regret it it's just stressing me out planning my wedding just wanted some opinions like I said I'm not wealthy and I need to live after the wedding but being married means more than the wedding

Then have a small wedding! I hate wedding planning, but it's important that our families be there, so I'm making it work. And the ladies here have great tips on having a great wedding on a shoe string budget!

I had to get marry before the date of my wedding so we did the JOP thing in april...and in november 2012 am getting my nice dream wedding...

so if you cant wait any longer and whats more important for you is to be married then go to the JOP and then later when you save some money or feel its time you can have a wedding...at the end its whatever you want to do...

You don't have to have a JOP wedding to save money. You could hire an officiant to come to your house, have the wedding with immediate family only there, then just serve lunch/dinner/cake and punch to everyone. Or get married at a park and have a picnic afterward.

If you end up married, it is a wedding. The question is what sort of wedding you want to have, that you can afford with your budget. And only you can know that.

My fiance is in the military and we are doing JoP first then wedding a few months later.. its up to you some people dont want a big wedding if you go Justic then you could have like a small reception after??? Do what is best fot you

If you're just going to the JoP because you're stressed out, don't do it! You'll regret it later and I think we've ALL hit that point. I think I might have even vented a while back that I was so overwhelmed and so tired that I just wanted to elope but the girls talked me out of it and I am so thankful. My wedding was one of the most exciting and fun times for us.

If it's a financial issue, maybe have a smaller guest list and lots of DIY projects. We were able to clear our whole wedding for just over 5 grand. Not too much but it looked like a million bucks! Good luck!

This will be my second marriage, the first one I was very young and we went to the JOP (he felt like spending money on a wedding was unnecessary, and because he was much older he took control of our finances), I was always a bit resentful of that........that's why this time around I'm making sure we have a real wedding....yes money is tight, but, where there's a will there's a way.

The more research and work you are willing to do the cheaper it will be

It really depends on where you are in your life and how important having a wedding is. Me and my FH are in our 40s and this is both our 2nd marriage. We could have easily just did a private ceremony in the office with our pastor and be through. BUT neither of us ever had a real wedding so for us it was important to have a big wedding at least once in our life. Now if anything ever happend and I was in the position to be married AGAIN. I wouldn't do a wedding. By then I'll be even older and all this wont mean as much. I figure a wedding is something we should experience at least ONCE. So again it just depends on what you and your FH feel is MOST important. You can do the JOP and then just do a nice dinner reception for friends and family to celebrate your marriage later.