we had a wedding that was exactly right for us - we'd been to hell and back with family issues in the six months before the big day (to the point that no one from DH's family was invited, and even then, they tried to sabotage - but that's another story!) - and our wedding was the day we put all that BS behind us and move forward - having a kick @ss party with it!

i had the princess dress - not because it's what i'd always dreamed of, but because i fell in love with it in the shop. we got married in DH's best mates (and best man's) back yard where we met. we had our reception catered at a footy club, and kicked on all night. the food was delish, we ended up putting less than $800 for drinks for 130 people - and all up, it cost us about $7500

i did all the invitations myself (was a great distraction from all the issues going on) - got mates rates on photos, decorated the hall ourselves the night before - and our thankyou gift to everyone who helped was a cleanskin bottle of wine with a thankyou message that we'd created on it.

wouldn't change our day for anything - we get comments regularly about how relaxed it was, how perfect for who we were - and when are we getting hitched again so we can have another night like that?!