If I were loaded and money were no object I would fly everyone that was important to me somewhere nice and treat them to a vacation and a short wedding

Otherwise, I'd just elope!

When I was little and always heard about all these girls planning their dream weddings (which I continued to experience into college), I always knew I was different. I wanted to elope since I was little. It's spontaneous, can be cheaper, and you don't have to worry about anything.

Elope. I think big weddings are a big waste of time & money, unless you have unlimited funds, like popgoestheworld said.

My husband's two best friends got married and no one was there- one actually asked him to be the best man and then they ended up eloping, and he was SO upset that he wasnt there. My in-laws were also devastated that two people they loved like their own children got married and they werent there. We were informed by both set of parents that we would not be eloping, which was fine with us- I saw how hurt they were and couldnt imagine doing that to my family and future in-laws. I wanted all my friends and family to be there to see the happiest day of my life and they all wanted to be there too.
I also refused to let wedding planning stress me out and gave myself 11 months to plan everything, I wanted to have happy memories and not be a bridezilla- things are going to go wrong, and most of the time, no one notices(I was once in a wedding and a bridesmaid didnt show up the day of the wedding, she had left her dress in the brides hotel room bc thats were we were all getting ready, so the bride gave the dress to another friend that was there and she was in the wedding instead, nobody knew). It was an incredible wedding and I wouldnt have done anything differently.

Each to their own. I think if you have load of cash you might as well spoil your friends and families but if you don't, do it simple. I don't have load and load of cash so I tend to do everything simple. I don't belive in grandness anyway I think happiness doesn't have anything to do with how wealthy you are. It's in your heart and it's in your attitude.

I want the middle ground. I don't need a big expensive wedding. But I do want a little bit of hoopla with family and friends.

It depends on the couples funds. I could afford it so we went all out but not to the point of overkill......

I'd rather elope and then perhaps have a reception for family and friends when we got back from the honeymoon.

I want a medium sized wedding. Not nec. the glam kind the stars throw, but invite everyone to one place, have some nice decorations and flowers, good music, and share the specialness with everyone.

I want the big blowout bash!

I would rather either elope or have a very small get together with just my close family for the ceremony (parents, brothers & sisters..)

Less stress to handle getting a wedding together, more places to choose from (beach front, island, church, where-ever! no worries on how to fit everyone in...)...

and I'm the type of person who HATES a lot of attention on me. It makes me uncomfrotable and embarassed...so I wouldn't want a room of people staring at me...

I dunno what I want yet, but I definitely want it small...

I totally agree with MiyaBi_na. I don't think I could handle all the attention. Plus, I would get a headache just by thinking of all the planning such a huge wedding bash requires.

We're going to go to city hall one day. Then we'll have a big party afterwards to celebrate - just not the traditional reception. It's not our thing.

my dad offered me the entire wedding budget up front if we would just elope. i seriously considered it...and i probably would have done it too, except my mom wouldn't let me! haha

I guess I have always thought that eloping was kind of a selfish thing to do.
You have all these people that have been there for you your whole life, family and friends, and they have likely helped you become the person that you are today as well as been involved in your relationship by supporting you and helping you out in times of need. It is selfish to not let these people who are a strong part of your life and your relationship be involved in such an important event.
Weddings are not purely about the couple, but also bringing together two families and groups of friends, celebrating eachother with those who love you.
There is always a way to have a small ceremony, even if it only means inviting those very closest to both of you.

While wedding are very expensive these days (I know because my fiance` and I are paying for our wedding ourselves), I don't think eloping is a good choice for most people. If you don't have any close family, then maybe eloping is a viable option. But, I think it's important to the people in your life to see you get married. We were thinking about eloping, but decided not to because my fiance` spoke to his mother about it and she said she would be very upset if she didn't get to see us get married.
I agree with ash_marisa in that you can always have a small ceremony and invite your close friends and family only.

weddings are crazy expensive.. i would honestly be happy going away somewhere.. nice and warm and gettin married.. yes i would love to have my family there.. but we can always have a party when we get home.. but it all depends on what the situation is when i do decide to get married... maybe i will want a big wedding then.. who knows!

I really wanted to get married in Vegas, but my husband knew that our families and friends would be devastated. We were broke, though, and paying for everything ourselves, so the wedding had to be small, which was fine with us! I'm from Indiana and he's from Georgia, so we had it in Virginia where we were both living, which guaranteed it to be small. Only our close friends and family would travel 8 or 12 hours for our wedding, so it worked out great. I still wouldn't have minded eloping, but this was the next best thing...

How about somewhere in the middle? Just because you don't elope doesn't mean you're going to have some blow out bash and spend 30 large! For a lot of people, it's important to see their loved ones get married and be there and experience it. Being invited to a party or reception afterwards just doesn't cut the mustard. You can still have a small, personal, and intimate wedding without eloping...just don't sell out to the marriage industrial complex!

I'm somewhere in the middle. Crazy short justice of peace ceremony with a sit down reception in the french quarter. Our budget is so low my boyfriend was like "Are you serious?"

I want to have a really casual, cheap event so that we can invite as many of our friends as possible without breaking the bank. I chose other because I don't want anything crazy or fancy and I don't want to elope, just throw a big bash and put on a white dress!

It was my choose to elope. I have a big family but not many of them get along so well. so to have me the stress of dealing with people fighting, we told everyone the week before and sent everyone pictures.