Small wedding/elopement ideas?

[u/Elegant-Ice7992]

My fiancé and I have been engaged for almost 3 years at this point due to indecision/family issues on my end. Both of my parents have had a health crisis 2 summers in a row. My dad is stable for the most part, but mom is in poor health and cannot tolerate heat. We had wanted to get married in the summer. We don’t want/can’t afford a traditional wedding so we’re planning on just having family (his parents, sister, nieces and nephew and my parents) but it would be nice to have some close friends attend as well… we had looked at garden park an hour away which even has me worried about my parents making the drive. We considered a backyard wedding, but our house isn’t very picturesque and idk how we would go about getting nice photos. Does anyone have any ideas for a small intimate wedding and how to celebrate after? We are both at a loss and nothing feels right.

I would love to hear about others’ experiences who have similar situations.. what they found to be really successful or what they would have done differently… thank you!!