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Big formal church wedding vs. Small semi formal court house wedding?

I am looking to get married soon and i want a small court house wedding. Most of my friends and Family thinks i should have a big extravagant wedding but its just not me. I need some other opinions and possibly some web sites that I can visit to help me plan a small nice intimate wedding for a small budget. Also I would like to know some other places i could go in the AR. TN. MS.area to have a nice reception.Thank you in advance for your answers.

Public Comments

1. http://www.heartlandwedding.com/packages.html http://www.agardenofdreams.com/ I think you should concentrate on package deals that include both wedding and reception. These two places can handle both for you. In Mississippi, any of the casinos could handle a big reception for you. Here are just a couple of links: http://www.beaurivage.com/ http://www.isleofcapricasino.com/Biloxi/ http://www.islandviewcasino.com/
2. I originally wanted to have a small court house wedding too until we got more money then we would have a bigger wedding but my mother said something that made a lot of sense...she told me that I'm only going to get married once and it's always easier to say "we'll have a wedding later on" then to actually do this. I didn't have a huge wedding, I think it was around 60 people we invited and it really didn't cost an outrageous amount. I had my wedding at the hotel we were having our reception at. They had a beautiful area outside where the walkway was beautiful and they added the arch and the flowers and the chairs there and it was absolutely breathtaking. The wedding didn't cost us anything but paying for the reverend to come and officiate it. You should try asking around and see what deals come with having a small intimate gathering like that at a hotel...oh yeah and BTW, they gave us a complimentary room as well for us to use for the bridal party & also for the wedding night! Good luck to you!
3. i was in a VERY similar situation. :) and to please others we did start planning the big wedding... and it was bad. we ended up VERY stressed, and ultimately unhappy. and although we did lose the deposits we put down on the venues... we're happy we decided to do what was in our hearts- get married just the two of us. and it doesn't have to be the courthouse, you can get married any beautiful place near you! we found a beautiful oceanfront gazebo we're getting married in this saturday. and our officiant and photographer is only costing us 200! its true you can only get married once, but celebrating with your family can be done anytime! and its much less stressful. plus you can share the pictures from your wedding. :)
4. You don't want a big formal wedding, don't have one. Weddings are expensive and it is so easy to go over the top and so far into debt that you'll spend years recovering. I had a small semi formal wedding at my church, and if we had to do it over again, we'd still have a small wedding.