I just got married 4 months ago- we had 300 people, a full reception, and we were able to do it for $6000, everything included. My mom works at our church, so they comped the rental cost. We had everyone seated at the reception tables during the ceremony because I think it's EVIL when you have to wait 3 hours for some cold Italian food. I made playlists for all of our ceremony and recption music- it worked very well! For food, we bought rotisserie chicken from Sam's Club and had baked potatoes, salad, and rolls. We bought sheet cake (gasp!) from Sam's club and paid maybe $15 for our couple's cake. My dress was on end-of-season sale for $500 from Davids' Bridal (I used my tax refund to pay for it). The thing that helped us out so much was that we have a great community at our church- my family friend made the bouquets and centerpieces from roses we ordered from Sam's Club. We did the pawn shop thing for all our rings- my husband got my 3/4 carat diamond engagement solitaire for $700. It can be done! Use the resources you have around you!