Here's a GREAT idea, check with ANTHONY'S in Swampscott, you could have the wedding on the beach and walk up to the restaurant for a dinner reception and they have rooms party rooms available. Great seafood there and the view of the water is so beautiful.

Swampscott is easy to get to, and you can take off from there for your honeymoon to a beautiful B&B north of Boston, Rockport, for example.

A wedding reception there would be way under your budget. Also there are a few hotels/B&Bs in the area for guests as well.

Hope this helps.

We had a very nice wedding for $85 including 2 rings. It will be 30 years this Sept.!!

Just a suggestion - get married in the late morning/Noon time, and take your 12 folks to lunch (total max$2400)at the best place your home town offers.The point is to be able to enjoy yourselves & each other. At some point later (ours was many months later, after we bought our home) we had our "reception" - a live band,(check with your local college who might be for hire from their undergraduate/Graduate music majors) with dancing outside our home. (Yes, we had a tent - didn't need it!) We invited lots of folks from our work and other social circles who felt no responsibility to give a gift (which we did not want), but who enhanced our party tremendously! All the best - D

Check with Hamilton-Turner Inn (Savannah GA), an elegant mansion on the Lafayette Square park. My daughter in law did some modeling for the beautiful inn and I've seen wedding photographs taken there. Not only a great place for a wedding, but lovely decor for wedding photography.

The Jekyll Island Club on Jekyll Island, GA Coast has a classy wedding package for $2500 that includes (and check with them, I was there this weekend and saw a brochure)
-Ceremony
-Wedding Cake
-Photographer and album
-Minister (local)
-Accomadations in "Jekyll Island Suite" for brid and groom
and other stuff
-Horse drawn carriage?

Jekyll Island Club is beautiful. You could have a sunset wedding under the golden skies riverside, or a beach front wedding...

Your friends will thank you for years to come. The only hitch is flying in... The closest "major" airport is Savannah or Jacksonville, FL (cant recall) about 1 hour 10 min. away from either I believe.

Google Jekyll Island Club or Jekyll Island GA for more

We saw two lovely afternoon weddings (or at least the bride and wedding parties) when we were there for a carriage ride last year.

The good news is that hotels on the island are reasonable so you wouldn't be paying a fortune for their rooms if you are still planning to foot the bill.

Air Tran flies into both Savannah and Jax if any of your departure cities are served by Air Tran. They have some very good rates.

Lisa, what was the name of the inn in Washington DC, where you married?

Reading this reminded me of our daughter's wedding 3 years ago. She and her fiance didn't want the stress of a big wedding---she had been in two very stress-filled big weddings the year before, and wanted no part of that.

They went to Lake Tahoe for a weekend, and my husband and I overlapped with them there. Over lunch, they said they wanted to "run something by us". They decided they wanted to get married at Lake Tahoe, outdoors, in 2 weeks!

We were just thrilled to death that they hadn't already gotten married, and wanted us to be there when they did! They wanted just immediate family and one attendant each.

My husband and I were already staying for the week, and our daughter and fiance had to get home for work. So my husband and I spent the week researching their options.

We found a wedding service that performed weddings outdoors on the North Shore, overlooking the lake. My husband and I hiked up to the top of the mountain to see the site, which was unbelievably beautiful. My husband took out his cell phone and called our daughter to say that "we were standing on their wedding site".

We then found the perfect restaurant for dinner after the wedding, and condos for everyone to stay. At the end of the week we came home, and my daughter and I went to San Francisco the next morning to a Bridal Outlet store. She found the most perfect dress immediately, and we went to brunch! On the way home, we bought a veil, tiara, etc at a Bridal Shop--on sale. Then we spent the next week "getting ready" and having a ball.

She let her maid of honor choose her own dress. The groom and best man wore tuxes. The whole thing turned out to be the most fun we could have imagined and very elegant. There were 14 people, the weather was absolutely perfect, and the photos are awesome.

On the morning of the wedding, my daughter phoned me to say that she and her maid of honor had just taken a long walk in the woods, and that it was her "perfect wedding day".

Every year they go back to "their spot" for their anniversary, and always tell me that their wedding was absolutely perfect.

We did have a reception 2 months later for all the family and friends, but that was just because we all wanted to do that. And there was no stress involved there, because they were already married! So it was just a big party. Very fun.

My daughter says the biggest mistake brides make is buying bridal magazines!

There is no "right" or "wrong" way to get married. Do what you and your fiance want so that you will always look back on your wedding with happy memories.

Mimi, We are going to a wedding in the Dallas area soon. Like you, the bride and groom wanted something special but didn't want to spend much money.
They are having a SUNRISE wedding in one of the city parks. The reception follows immediately after the wedding and is a champagne brunch at a local restaurant. They are having 100 guests and spending less than $4,000 total. However, we are buying our own plane tickets.