Am I being unrealistic about my wedding budget + is it rude to not host a full beach day?

(Sorry this is going to be a long text) Hi everyone, I could really use some honest advice (and maybe reassurance 😅).

I’m planning a destination wedding in my home country february 2027 (not the U.S.), and I started off feeling like everything was meant to be… but now I’m getting stressed about the budget and expectations.

Here’s the situation:

•	My uncle offered his house for the wedding, it’s a beautiful beachfront property with a garden, so I’m saving on a venue.

•	A close family friend is a wedding planner and is helping me for free.

•	I’m a graphic designer, so I’m doing all the stationery/design myself.

Because of this, I felt like I could “splurge” on the one thing that really matters to me: music.

So I booked a DJ for $4,000. I know that sounds like a lot, but he’s honestly amazing and is the only thing that I really wanted to spend money on.

I also found a photographer + videographer package for $1,550 total (with trash the dress photos), which felt like a huge win.

Now here’s where I’m spiraling a bit:

My total budget is $26,000, and I’m currently at about $20,000, which includes:

•	Catering (food + non-alcoholic drinks)

•	Decor (including furniture, lighting, flowers)

•	DJ

•	Photo/video

What I still need to cover:

•	Alcohol (which I know can get expensive fast)

•	Miscellaneous costs I might not even be thinking about yet

•	Sound

So I only have about $6,000 left, and I’m worried I underestimated everything.

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My other dilemma:

Since the wedding is at the beach, I feel like there’s this expectation to host some kind of beach event the day before.

But realistically, I don’t think I can afford to host a full beach party on top of the wedding.

What I was thinking instead is something more casual:

→ just inviting people to meet at a beach or beach club the day before

→ not hosting it (so people would pay for their own food/drinks)

Would that be considered rude for a destination wedding?

⸻

I guess my questions are:

1.	Am I already in trouble budget-wise, or is this still manageable?

2.	Was spending $4k on a DJ a mistake, even if it was my top priority?

3.	Is it okay to NOT host a full beach event and instead do something casual where guests pay their own way?

I was feeling so excited at the beginning, and now I feel like I might have miscalculated things.

Our parents are helping with part of it and we are putting some money too, im getting a part time job so I can save that money exclusively for the wedding and maybe have a budget of 28k instead of 26k.

Any advice (or reality checks) would be really appreciated 🙏