Well, not that I feel the need to justify it, but just to share . . . we had to have a ceremony in Europe in order for me to be there legitimately on his military tour and all the minute details that entails. This meant we didn't get to have the ceremony with family like we wanted.

Then, in order to have the priest (my husband's family's Catholic) agree to show up at the actual bash, we had to show up at the church and have a private ceremony there.

So in answer to your question, yes. That would have been our first choice. Since we couldn't do that, we cobbled together a plan that incorporated everyone as best we could.

However, the point of the post was to give people ideas to save money on their weddings if they wanted to. We didn't do anything that we couldn't afford and are happy with our decisions.

Out of curiosity, why do you ask?