Alternate Wedding Ideas

I'm getting married at the School house in Munster ON. They cater to small weddings.

I know that Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have some beautiful parks, and it's usually cheaper to rent a park for a day, or you could use a backyard if you know someone who has the space (some Airbnb properties would work for that too). Someone I know said she went to a picnic in a park kind of wedding before. Of course renting chairs is expensive, so the cheapest option would be to ask people to bring a lawn/camp chair, and then some kind of food to share, and then the most expensive parts are covered.

What my mom did for her second marriage was she asked to use a campground while none of the summer events were happening. Everyone stood by the water for the ceremony at the beach. It was beautiful, and it was pretty cheap to rent cabins for family members right at the start of the season before the demand was there. She did a potluck style reception where one of my friends and I with help from my mom's sister decorated brownies as a cake, and her friends made food. Since it was a camp, that meant picnic tables were available, and all the necessary things like a small kitchen and nice bathroom buildings.

There are all sorts of cheaper options from school gymnasiums, to public spaces, even libraries. If you want indoor, I'd suggest looking at legion halls, community buildings, or old fire halls. The last wedding I was at was at a legion and it was a bit dark inside, but all the family pitched in to help decorate, and it worked really well! To cut back on food costs, they did a taco bar with a couple of meat options in slow cookers, and a variety of other toppings in bowls for people to serve themselves, as well as some sandwiches and snack foods (fruit tray, cookies, etc). It was really nice and the whole thing was probably around $2K or a bit less based on what they told me after. To compare, I'm looking at around $8K for an all inclusive venue with their own chef to do the food, and all the basics are included, then flowers/decor is extra.

Is your home a place that can hold the wedding? Maybe a backyard party type deal?

You can also do a dinner type thing at a restaurant. Either book a private room or pre-book set hours for a dinner service. Restaurant meals are tastier and cost much less than a banquet hall. You can still have your city hall ceremony if you want to keep that low key. Richmond Hill in particular also have a ton of restaurants that can partition into a separate private room if you want to go that route.

Since your family insists on having a wedding, are they at least willing to pitch in? Kind of ridiculous to demand someone to throw a big party on their own dime when it's not what they wanted.