Sewjoyce - I went to Gatlinburg, TN too, when I remarried in 2005! Rented a cabin for a week..... was Heaven!!! I really envy all of you who get to live in TN!
We got married in my church, which is now our church, with communion. All six of our kids participated in the wedding. It was such a beautiful wedding, I cried all the way through it! lol!!
My stepson did our invitations on a computer, my DH's brother did all our photos/video, our reception was in the large private lounge of our bowling alley ($150 rental, I think), with a buffet - sandwhiches, salads, etc. Beautiful 3 tiered cake from Walmart! We had an open bar, which ended up being only about $150, not many drink. We also had one of those bouncy things for all the kids to get into and bounce, set up in a corner, as we wanted them all to have a really good time too!
I also had my bff take photos of each person/couple as they came in the door for our wedding. I had blank pages for each to sign, or write a little something, instead of a guest book. I then put these into a scrapbook I made. I still take that out often, to look at it!
I had wanted to have signature squares to have quests sign, when my youngest DS got married last June, to make into a quilt for them, and then went ditz and didn't do it. That might be something you'd want to do.
We had about 80 people, as I wanted only people of the heart there, and it was about $2000 - not including Gatlinburg! :wink:
My suggestion would be to focus on the love, the spirituality, the joy, of it all. To me, that's what's most important, that which will be most remembered.
And ooops - Congratulations!!!! :D :D Forgot that part, was off tripping down Memory Lane.... lol!!!! :-)