I was 36 and DH was 32 when we married, living in San Francisco but married at (my) home in Maine. We paid for: Invitations, made the wedding programs, 2 weeks rental car, made my dress, veil, and embellished plain white satin shoes, DH's tux, rehearsal dinner for 20 (clambake, beer, wine), flowers, church (no limos, drove our own cars), amazing buffet dinner at a local restaurant (100 guests), champagne toast and 2 bottles of wine per table (but cash bar otherwise) DJ, favors, table decorations, balloons and twinkle lights for the hall. Frequent flyer miles covered airfare for me, DH, and his dad. My sister owns a retail shop so we ordered our wedding rings and bridesmaid's dresses wholesale, although the girls paid for the dresses ($22 each), wore their own white shoes, and the groomsmen paid for their tuxes ($50). My sister and BIL worked part-time in a bakery, so they made and gave us our cake as our gift. A friend did the photography as a gift. We went to a local rose grower for bouquets and bought 2 pails of roses and made centerpieces. We paid for DH's family's accommodations. They were all from IN and OH and I knew it'd cost for them to get to Maine, so we told them if they could get there we'd put them up. We rented family cabins directly across the street from the beach; fortunately it was just before the summer season started, so we got a good deal on 6 cabins for 4 nights. We also paid for our "honeymoon," 3 days/2 nights in Bar Harbor, although we went the weekend before the wedding to take advantage of off-season hotel rates (and we'd been living together for 8 years, so...). We set a budget of $6000 and stayed within. I cannot remember if that included attendant's gifts or not, but the girls got matching earrings to wear at the wedding (wholesale from my sister's shop) and I believe we got the guys engraved glass beer mugs. DH wants to be able to pay for as much of DD's wedding as we can. She is a practical girl who won't throw money around, but I know that she also feels that she and her boyfriend should pay for the wedding (not that they are yet engaged, but the talk...), so we shall see what happens, when the time comes.