I feel ya, Champ - although I've been pretty lucky in this regard in general, there was a point when my FMIL for no apparent reason was really pushing us to get a harpist (which didn't appeal to us AT ALL), and when various members of his extended family were giving us crap about not having a big wedding (and inviting them). So many people just don't seem to understand that these things cost money, and often a lot of money at that. And, more importantly, some people seem to feel that your wedding should be the way they think it should be, and not the way you want. Pretty much everything we're doing for our wedding is unconventional, and that's the way we want it. On the plus side, many, many people have told us that our wedding plans are the coolest, and many people have said that they wished they had done it the way we're doing it! Bottom line is, as the PPs have said, make your decision based on what you want - this is definitely one instance where you should not be trying to please everybody around you!
Regarding sticking to your budget, it is difficult. Our original target was $15K, and it has grown to $22K - and it's a very small wedding. Throughout the process, our philosophy has been to: 1) not spend more than we have, 2) allow ourselves the luxury of the things that are really important to us (e.g. venue, food, and photography), and 3) not spend money on the things we don't care about (e.g. harpists!). With about a month to go, we feel really good about the decisions we've made.
HTH!
