Miss_Dee,
I went/am going through the exact same thing. We were planning a huge elaborate affair, costing close to $25,000. I got sick and had to quit my job. That was the game changer for us. We realised the big fancy do wasn't all it was cracked up to be, so we started talking about "eloping". At first we planned to find a celebrant, a park and go out to dinner, but surprise our immediate family by not telling them but inviting them, realised that wouldn't work as most live interstate and getting them all here would be impossible without telling them.
So we decided just our bridal party and immediate family, they are paying for their own meals as it's not a typical reception, it's "going out to dinner". We then thought about it, as we have booked a chapel, there is no reason people can't come to the ceremony, so we are having around 50-60 at the ceremony at 6pm, then our bridal party plus immediate family at dinner (which is still 26 people, damn me having "2"
families)! Perfect for us! I already had my dress on order and we had bought our rings already, so taking out those, our wedding is only costing $2000 including celebrant, photographer and venue hire (chapel). Everything else has just worked out. We gave ourselves 3 months from deciding to the day, it's a month away now but I am so happy with our decision and it's going to be far more special than our original plans :-)
To us the important thing is being married, not all the frills that go with it.