First wedding on both sides of the family, and before registry office had become a thing here (Ireland), or travelling abroad either.
We wanted it to be about the ceremony, sharing the day with family, and enjoying a nice meal together.
We didn't invite any friends of our own or any work colleagues. But we "had" to allow both sets of parents do so (I think each had about 5 couples who were friends rather than family, and the "family" extended to people I'd only met about twice on my side! and similar on DH's - still an era where the parents ruled not the B&G). It was still a LOT smaller than a lot of "traditional" weddings of the time.
We decided what we wanted in the church - attendants, music, readings, flowers etc. And we stuck to our guns on those parts.
I "had" to have a big white dress (mid-winter and I longed for a burgundy velvet top over cream skirt) - DM overruled my choices. (I was still very much in the FOG - fear obligation guilt - at that time, slightly less so now). But I was relatively ok with it.
We loved the venue (we had another in mind which would have limited numbers to 20 fewer in the end - but the final venue was great and probably had better food and atmosphere, although not quite as spectacular views, as our initial preference). We agreed with what others wanted for food etc - we knew it would be good and we liked the proposals.
We agreed with someone's idea for entertainment both on arrival and after the meal as we didn't want a band and disco and "afters". It suited what we wanted.
We didn't go with a lot of frills and fuss - we had a good photographer (cost a lot but we were confident in his skills) but no video, no rented car (there were nice cars in the family to use), no chair covers, etc.
We had a few little touches here and there that we wanted or others suggested that we liked and agreed to - real candles in the church along the windows with little bits of greenery under them, and they came to the reception with us too. Lots of the greenery came from DM and DMIL's gardens, and both of them helped prepare the church the day before with the florist. And the "favours" were something a little different that someone else put together.
We did have booklets, but we designed the (pretty minimalist, as we liked - dark card with gold writing) invitations ourselves with the stationers and made the booklets ourselves (got the same card for the covers, and bought gold ink and a lovely stamp to decorate the covers, and gold ribbon to tie them up). The BM dress was the same colour as the card, and the neckties of DM and best man were the gold. (I had already given in on pure white for myself at that point). So it all fitted nicely for us.
What we hadn't thought through enough was timing on the day. It was a very rushed day, and DH and I didn't have any few minutes just to savour it. There was no quiet glass of bubbles for us anywhere. We were "needed" to mingle the whole time. One relative was upset at one side outnumbering the other side (turns out it wasn't a B/G thing, it was a her side/IL side on the same family side thing, if that's not too complicated). And due to other things being rushed (working too close to the day, travelling too much to get "home" (where I grew up and we were getting married) and organize at a distance, unhelpful relatives not doing what they committed to, and not knowing exactly how much was involved as it was the first - I ended up in the hotel that night with my wedding dress and a pair of jeans and a hoodie to travel in the next morning. We also ended up bowing to pressure to have a big family meal (both of us, separately) the night before, so didn't sleep well and were both unwell as well (got to the honeymoon venue and basically didn't move for 2 days, and not because it was the honeymoon venue!).
Next time, I've already warned DH, it will be JUST the people WE want although I would go back to the same place for the atmosphere and the food.
And we will have a proper holiday arranged, that we don't need to leave at 8am the morning after to drive 3 hours to get to the airport for a 1 week self catering package in an apartment in the Canaries in February that was rubbish and cold and just not really a proper honeymoon. We had more of a honey moon on 2 separate weekends (both cheap deals - supermarket stamps for flights) later in the spring to Paris and London.
Although next time, we won't have just spent all our money on our first house and be so smashed that taking whatever deal was available will be necessary. (Or else we will just not travel and spend more on 2/3 nights in a decent hotel nearer home).
In fairness, next time will still be to the same groom. And we hit a reasonable milestone next year (we hit double digits many moons ago!).