Like GLC, I found the final wedding in "Runaway Bride" to be pretty close to my ideal. Tiny tiny ceremony, followed by big party!

There is nothing "falling short" about eloping or tiny weddings. It's what you bring to the event in your heart and what you take away afterwards that really matters, no matter how cliched that may seem.

List out the things that are most important to the two of you, and create the wedding that fits you. Rites of passage have the meanings we give them. (and writhing with embarrassed shyness during a huge wedding would NOT have fit me!)

I'm very active in my church, and it was important to me that we be married by a minister of my church. Rev. Stewart is one of my favorite ministers, I deeply admire him and I listen to his sermons over and over again on podcast. Being married by him was like being married by a rock star!

There is nothing particularly legally binding about having a minister sign the license. As a courtesy, the state automatically deputizes clergy so they can sign at any time. You can deputize a family member or a friend to sign your license (it's about $50) or have a justice of the peace or county clerk sign (again, about $50). You can have a ceremony or not, as you wish. You can have the license signed weeks before the ceremony to take the stress off. There's an amazing amount of flexibility built into the system.

You don't even have to exchange rings at the ceremony or signing, if you'd rather do it in private.

If you don't want a diamond ring, you don't have to have one. You don't have to have an engagement ring at all. Trek chose a channel-set sapphire band for her engagement ring, she's not a diamond ring kind of gal, either. I didn't want an engagement ring, so I'm right there with you.

Our elopement was the wedding of my dreams, and really what I'd wanted all along. Very small. We will get as formal and elaborate and big as we want for our celebration (probably on an anniversary). I've already got the dress picked out!

Whatever you choose to do, make it something you will both love and feel comfortable with. The wedding is for you, the party is for everyone else. It will never "fall short" if it's yours.