[Tammy8]

Exactly!

My grandson got married recently, he and his fiancee were paying for their own wedding. They planned to have a fairly simple wedding, and not big by today’s standards- around 100 guests.

While making plans they realized it was going to cost $20,000+. They are both bright people and realized that was insane when they could use that kind of money to get into a home instead.

So they decided to be more practical. They got married in the backyard of a family member with about 50 guests. Food was prepared by family, yard was decorated by family. It was a perfect wedding!

[GaltAdonis]

A few decades ago really good friends of mine got married in their own back yard in Virginia. They had 30-something guests attend who drove or flew in
(at their own expense) from all over the lower 48.
For me it was a 6 hour drive, and I slept on their couch in the living room.