Small wedding

[Lookingadvicr]

Ok this is going to be long. My and my partner have been together for 15 years this year our wedding has been cancelled twice due to covid we are now at the point it's not about the big wedding its about the marriage making a commitment to each other so are getting married in local town hall next year just us our two sons and witnesses our family are both happy for us but we are thinking of having a very small get together just close family at our home with some kind of food and a few drinks. Has anyone done anything like this and regret not having the big party or can anyone give ideas. We are on a budget as we go on holiday 3 days after the wedding xx

You're asking in the wrong place OP, MN is classically /notoriously very anti 'big' wedding/ pro 'small' wedding and in fact most posters would chastise you for being extravagant/thoughtless/vulgar/show-off-y for doing anything more than a tiny, family only wedding costing peanuts .

In the real world however I do think if this is what you want to do then it's absolutely fine, you should do whatever makes you happy and any one of your friends/family who is anything other than pleased for you is an arse. That being said no-one can promise you (a) that you won't see other people's photos of big fancy parties on social media or the like and feel a tiny bit jealous (b) that your mad great aunty Ethel or grabby cousin Sharon won't kick off because you're not throwing a giant expensive bash for the extended family. These objections might be irrational but you need to be prepared for them - but thing is there's no winning with weddings, if you did go all out and spend your life savings on a castle and a designer dress and 300 guests, someone would still find a way to be offended, aunty ethel would complain she's on the wrong table or cousin Sharon would kick off because the free bar doesn't extend to pink Crystal or whatever. And many, many people regret spending too much money on their weddings, particularly if they were talked into it by other people rather than it being what they truly wanted. So so long as a small wedding really is what you and your DH want I'd absolutely go for it.

For ideas, would be useful to know roughly how many people and how budget is budget, i.e. do you have £20 or £200 or £2000 to spend. Also what time of year, are you constrained to inside or can you plan on using a garden perhaps with a gazebo in case of rain? Are you into cooking, would you/DH enjoy creating an elaborate celebratory feast or is easy as possible the way to go? A barbeque is a good way to cater for numbers and suit different dietary needs whilst still feeling celebratory. Or otherwise a cold buffet (you can get great trays of pre-prepared buffet food from CostCo or M&S), or perhaps a bring and share 'pot-luck' where everyone brings a dish to share? A booze cruise across to France isn't quite the saving it once was but if you happen to live on the south coast might still be worth hiring or borrowing a large car or van and going and stocking on on fizz? Personally I'd also put some effort into personalising the ceremony to make it feel special, choosing meaningful readings and music costs nothing but really makes the memories. I'd also consider inviting close family to come to the ceremony itself but that's obviously just a personal choice...