Cutting costs and keeping things practical

Chic 'n cheap = practical

So, while I am entranced by all these wedding related details, at the end, it's supposed to reflect a day that is about us. That and of course we didn't have the budget for it. I wonder what I would have done with a ginormous budget though...actually I have an inkling and will post about that later.

But anyway our wedding did not have:

• fancy limo for $200/hour just to have a few pictures (yes the Nissan Maxima and Toyota Echo came out)
• dj encouraging everyone to do the chicken dance (yes Mr. Chic 'n Cheap dj'd from his iPhone, it was actually awesome)
  
• matching dresses if every girl has a different body
• $4000 dress for a six hour affair (but I did try on an $11,000 dress, wow)
  
• crazy cocktail hour with 6 stations and 6 hors d'oeuvres (yes I was offered that) if the food can not even be donated afterwards
• excessive wedding projects because they are SOO cute (this one was hard) and I'm stuck with random packs of metallic cardstock
• paper Save the Date because our wedding was in a few months
  
• multiple slips of paper and enclosure envelopes when most people forget to send the RSVP itself (I am guilty of this too)
• expensive flowers because I love them but would not pay >$1k for something that will die in 3 days
• makeup artist because fake eyelashes and lip stain are my friend
• expensive favors though I did stay up till 3 am baking cookies with a bridesmaid - it was actually super fun though super exhausting
  

We're happy with what we did and though it wasn't as low as I expected (alcohol cost more than food!), it was still relatively low and lower than the NATIONAL as well as NYC average.

I am awed by people that can have $2k weddings and give props to people that want to spend $100k.

But our wedding was us.
It was interactive.
It was totally practical.
It was Chic 'n Cheap.

What "traditional' aspects are you skipping? Or what can't you live without at the wedding?