It's been a very stressful planning period for us too. DF really wanted his mother to be there, but she was just saying it wasn't a good time for her, etc. etc. even with offers to help pay for her trip. His extended family (aunts, uncle & cousins) already had another trip planned during that time and tried to push us into having it later in the summer (regardless of the fact that it had to work around our work and my school schedules) My family isn't coming either, so essentially we're eloping and just going show people photos and video when we come back. The DC area is expensive as all hell and I'm not going to go into debt for a wedding i'm not excited about when I could have a gorgeous one for less than half the cost somewhere beautiful and romantic.