Terrific!! I laughed out loud. 
Good point – if the couple is not sufficiently religious, skip the church and go to city hall. That’s gotta be a few hundred bucks right there. If multiple city halls exist nearby, find the one with the prettiest background for photos. If parents insist on church, have them pay for it. 
We went to city hall with immediate family a few weeks before the big reception. It doesn’t have to all happen on the same day!
Of course we still married in front of God. As a Catholic, you can have marriage without mass and still have your marriage be a sacrament. The only two required elements are Question of Consent (I dos basically) and Nuptial Blessing. The mass is not mandatory, only the Rite of marriage ceremony. If you’re part of a parish already, have gone through the counseling, and got prepared for the slightly different church service, all it took was decide on which date it happens.
For us, we did it during a regular evening service at our parish. That was announced the previous Sunday so there were quite a few more people than on a regular midweek evening mass but it was by far not a grandiose or costly affair. Our only expense there was our voluntary extra donation. Since we were still grad students, the parish did not received much from us to be honest. Maybe a bit more from extra attendance but that’d be insignificant for total wedding costs if you wanted to keep it that way.
OHMYGOD DON’T DO IT. Lol, sorry, couldn’t resist. Our wedding – went to Elkton, paid a few bucks for the license, had a judge do the “wedding” for a few more bucks, then grabbed some pizza at an SBarro on the way home. BADA BING, that’s how we do it in Jersey.
Let’s talk weddings. This site started with the idea of having the glorious wedding & save on expenses.
“I choose to take the money & folks drove us to Las Vegas”. I forgot to mention I was only 19 & Htb was 24. Both in college, H getting the college GI Bill, so quite poor. Some would say wait. but “Love at first site” won out. Still with that same guy.
My parents did help some with funds at the beginning of the marriage.
It was love at first site about my family loving this guy I brought home.
So all is well that ends well. Regardless, get on with your desires. 
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Families used to have weddings in their backyard and the family would help with the food\meals\etc.
Do that, hire a DJ, and you’ll have most of the fun and cut out 95% of the costs.
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