What could i go without?

You can definitely skip any party favors

Honestly I feel like as long as you have the dress and rings everything else can be set up in a short amount of time. those are the things that take the longest to arrive and it sounds like you already have a venue and vendors. You can go to any florist and basically get what you need within a week or two. and if not grocery stores have florist departments

Will your venue not let you move your date so you don’t loose that money?
Otherwise as others have said you have the essentials. You can get beautiful flowers from the grocery store. If you’re not worried about formality e-invites are fine. If you’d prefer something printed, you can design your own invites and print them at Office Depot/office max or staples.

You definitely don't need save the dates for a January wedding. For flowers, talk to a florist about what you can do with the amount of money you're comfortable spending. If you're allowed to use candles at your venue, you can use them in your centerpieces in place of some/all of the flowers. IKEA has really cheap ones. I also think you can skip any linen/chair/lighting upgrades your venue offers for the reception as well as programs and decorations for the ceremony.

View Quoted Comment They have already been gracious enough to offer a date move. I just worry about the minimum for people attending. I know they had one for the food...what would that mean if we didn't meet that number?
They billed for that already so I don't think it would matter.

View Quoted Comment My other worry is obviously my mother in law's health. I don't know how comfortable she is with a high number and I don't know how small a ceremony we can have.

We are going through with our September wedding due to his mother being end-stage cancer... So I feel for you.
We are skipping the favors- nobody likes favors and they’re a waste of money. I think they’re super corny and I never take any!
We did a save the date with our wedding website on it; so cheap and environmentally friendly! Wish you the best!

View Quoted Comment I’m sorry to hear about your FMIL!
As far as minimums, you’ll probably have to just pay any difference. Our venue and caterer are contracted together too, with a $2k catering minimum. If food and drinks totally $1500, we have to pay the $500 difference as a “venue fee.” Unfortunately, with Covid we can’t have more than 50 people so there’s no way we’ll meet our minimum unless people are enjoying multiple drinks each (and our reception is breakfast after a sunrise ceremony, so...).
Definitely take to his parents about what they are most comfortable with, no sense changing the date if they are uncomfortable with the amount of guests you’re expecting and won’t come. Maybe you could do something special with just them (and your parents?) prior to the bigger wedding.

Hey! Congratulations to you both and sorry to hear of the diagnosis.

I think you should do the things you know you absolutely want, and either go light on the others or cancel them altogether. I am not having favors for the wedding because I find that guests typically forget them. If you want to leave your guests with a memory, you can always have the printout from the Photo Booth (if you're doing it). Also, I think the save the dates would be essential ESPECIALLY if you are switching the date. But maybe those can be electronic? I love the idea of having physical invitations for the wedding, if you have a Staples by you, the aren't TOO pricey there. I'd check them out too.

I’m so sorry about your FMIL. I feel for you as we’ve been going through it with my FMIL. We’ve had to make a lot of changes and adjustments and quite honestly it’s shown us how much we can go without. Honestly all you really need is someone to marry you unless you’re self uniting, a marriage license and the people who matter the most. We’ve had to change/reorder invitations, etc. we have boxes full of decor and what have you that I’m not even positive we’ll get to use.

Unfortunately for us and for her, her health didn’t hold out as long as we had hoped or anticipated. We’re down to the wire now to have some sort of ceremony in their home so she can be apart of it, and so we can have her with us to celebrate in some small way.

I’m just grateful that we may have this small ceremony and that she will be able to enjoy it.

At the end of the day all you need is each other.

View Quoted Comment I read your other responses as well, this makes sense.
See what your venue says about minimums. And then talk with you FMIL and see what she is/will be comfortable with. You can always do an elopement with just parents and siblings now while her health is still ok reasonably. And then have your large celebration as planned that way if she can’t be there for the party she at least go to be there for your vows and ceremony.
Prayers sent for your family.

Things required for a wedding:

1. Couple

2. License

3. Food for any guests

EVERYthing else after that is gravy. We skipped favors, photobooth, we let the view from the venue be our lighting AND decoration, only did fake flowers/minimum centerpieces... basically kept it as simple as we could in a big city.

Our guests loved it.

I'm so sorry about your FMIL. As others have said, you might want to do some kind of ceremony with her present, and then have the big party later.

Maybe skip party favors and use fake flowers instead of real ones?

Have a small informal ceremony with his parents and yours so she can be there which could even be done at home. Host the final wedding/party in June as you planned

We had gone through something similar, though on a much tighter timeframe (like a week) when my dad was in hospice. Things needed (besides myself and FH) were:

1. Officiant

2. Marriage license

3. Dress (bought a dress on Amazon since mine wasn't ready yet), FH would wear a suit he had

4. Rings (we were going to get temporary cheap rings or rings we already had on hand)

5. Bouquet (I am using fake flowers for my actual bouquet, but I didn't have time to make them so I was going to order a premade fake bouquet)

6. Food

We ended up not doing this since my dad passed sooner than anticipated, so please keep in mind things may need to pushed up sooner than you think. But these would be what we had considered to be the key ingredients to make a quick ceremony special. No need for decor or party favors, I don't think any guest would fault you for not having these things given circumstances.

Though personally I agree with PP who suggested having the quick informal ceremony and still having your big wedding later on. I know my dad had said no matter what happens, for us to still have our big wedding. And we will eventually, we just had to postpone the big one due to COVID.

Sorry this is happening to you guys, stay strong

I’ve played the coordinator role before and let me remind you to get a photographer no matter how small or last minute your wedding may seem!
If you’re looking at other venues, a cake and punch reception can be a good way to save a LOT. My friend had cake with a hot cocoa/ coffee bar and it only cost her around $300 I think for 150 guests.
If you still want a bridal party, do the mix and match dress thing. Usually turns out really cute and cheaper.Cake, well, if you can or have to DIY. Or get a baker friend or relative to. I have a girl from church playing piano, no special music aside from that. Bouquets aren’t too hard to DIY. I don’t know how fancy you want, but a few roses in a vase in tables center looks classy and nice. Ask if the venue will make exception due to covid and your current circumstances. If not, I’d look at other options. I hope everything goes well for you. Wedding planning is stressful enough as it is, so I can only imagine how hard it is for you ❤️