My Cheap Wedding

I got married at age 47.  I had been living with my husband for 9 years by then.  We were already committed but the year before we got married I had a scare.  I had open heart surgery.  I wanted to be sure I could take care of him in the event of my death.  I wanted him to finally get a divorce and for us to marry.  It took about a year to pull things together.  His ex-wife was so very difficult which was why we didn't do the divorce earlier.  I had wanted a spring wedding but then my beloved got sick.  His back went out.  I had gone through this before but this time I was really worried.  He finally pulled out of it with drugs and lots of physical therapy.  So we planned the wedding for late summer.  I got the dress on eBay.  It was lovely and lacy and cost less than $100 even after the alterations. My husband had a tuxedo so I bought him a new bow tie and matching vest  We decided on a justice of the peace to be followed by lunch at  fancy restaurant which had a marina where we could take pictures.  Then we went to a local park which had a beach for taking more pictures.  The weather was perfect.  It was sunny but slightly overcast.  The light was bright but very diffuse.  Afterwards my new mother-in -law graciously let us use her living  and dining room for the cake cutting.  The lunch had only four invitees, while the cake cutting was for anyone who cared to come.  No gifts were accepted.  We had enough stuff to set up two houses by then. We got some wonderful cakes and three bottles of champagne.  We brought the music and had a great time.  Also I married someone who is  cheaper than me.
For my Honeymoon  I got a free stay at a Marriott Resort in exchange for going to a seminar on timeshares.  Of course we didn't buy the timeshare.  Buying a timeshare is like buying an ongoing bill.  Every year there is maintenance.  We just used them for the free stay and the next year we went on our first cruise.  One year of maintenance pays for half the cruise expense.  Timeshares just don't make sense to me.
I also got a great deal on little things for the wedding.  Since I was planning in the spring one day at the dollar store I came across blank wedding invitations, candles, gift bags and little bubble makers. I bought some supermarket flowers to decorate the table and brought my own champagne glasses. That was all the decoration I needed.  It was lovely.  I got some heavy stock paper and using my computer I made inserts for the blank wedding invitations.  I used the script font and with pinking shears I trimmed the paper.  It came out great and cost next to nothing.  Wedding invitations are ephemera which end up discarded anyway.  Why spend money on that?  It's more important to know your future spouse and whether your attitudes on money jive.  So far so good in that department.  We're both really cheap, though sometimes he's cheaper than me.