What Did You Say Your Budget Was?: finagling something nice out of nothing

It is lucky for Josh The Fiance and I that we're not big on the idea of having a fancypants wedding, because if we did the wedding industry would be HAHA SUCKERSing all the way to the bank. And back. And to the bank again. And Josh The Fiance and I... well, we just don't have very much money to put in the Wedding Industry's bank account. (And if we did I'd like to think we'd put it into the Graduate School bank account. Or maybe the House Ownership bank account. Or *hinthint* the Getting Grace A Puppy bank account.)

But again... not that much cash that we'd like to blow. (Do you know the kinds of germs that are on money these days? It's just DIS- what, you didn't mean that kind of blow? Er, carry on.) But the V Word started to rear its ugly head.

A venue wouldn't be that big of a deal if we wanted, say, a small ceremony and afternoon reception with 50, maybe 70 people. You can fit that sort of crowd cozily into a handy backyard, or under a small shelter in a nice garden-type park. But just my close extended family is about that, and Josh The Fiance is in a similar situation. If we cut out all but the most beloved of friends our guestlist is bumping up merrily against the side of the Good Ship 150. Small garden ceremony? Ha! Ha!

So we had to find a place that a) was not ludicrously priced; b) could accommodate our exorbitant families; d) fit our short laundrylist of aesthetic requirements. (And preferably not presided over by a crazy person.)

First we discovered that "not ludicrously priced" in Wedding Speak is $2k. Second we realized that if it was "reasonably priced", could fit our families, and was outside and pretty, it was not only often presided over by crazy people but usually we would have to pay to get it catered unless we wanted our guests to eat grass in the manner of cows. And reasonably priced catering typically starts at $10 a head for a light appetizer buffet. Which, with a guestlist of 150 people (each with their own personal head) is about $1500. That, on top of our reasonably priced venue, came to around $3,500. Which is not really a reasonable price when you realize we have already gone over our budget by 16.6% and we have not even purchased the dress yet.

I am beginning to see the appeal of eloping.