And I think they way you did it is great Katie. There is nothing wrong with throwing a wedding for short money. It can be as magical or even better than a wedding that cost a million dollars. Of course the opposite can be true as well.
We had over 250 guests at our wedding. Just feeding that many people is going to necessitate a certain dollar amount. We obviously would not be able to do that for $50. My wife and I did not know every single person there, but the day was not just about us. It was about our friends and family too. My parents had friends there that I had no idea who they were. It meant a lot to my parents they they were there though. My in laws had family there that we had never met before. It meant everything to my in laws to have them there though. We did know the majority of the people there though and every single person there were there because we wanted them to share in our special day. There is no way we could have done that for $50 or $75 or whatever.
I guess my point is that there is nothing wrong with spending as much as you want on a wedding if you want to.
I would have loved to have had a larger wedding the second time but, by the time Buck and I got married, most of our family (sadly) was dead. Really. Only Buck's mother was living. My youngest brother gave me away. So we didn't have any family friends we were not familiar with, etc. That would've been fun when the pictures were developed. Trying to figure out who the people were. There are always some "mystery" people.
I had the gown of my dreams and I have worn it several times since the wedding because of the kind of gown it is.
Fortunately, we had the venue until late at night and all the wedding party and about half of the guests spent hours sitting in the library talking and laughing and drinking champagne. We all kicked off our shoes and had a ball.
Good times!