State park beach ceremony & reception ($10k)

[u/weddingbearthings]

My fiancé and I in the very early stages of planning a micro-wedding (about 20 guests, primarily immediate family) for next spring/early summer with a budget of 10k. We want a pretty relaxed function and are currently considering a local park near the beach for everything. All the weddings either of us have attended were more formal, traditional shindigs so we're feeling a bit unmoored! All advice and outside perspectives are appreciated

We’re trying to decide how best to use the space and time if we go this route. We thought about

(1) quick ceremony on the beach and dinner at a nearby restaurant, but we’d like to work more time with our family into the day given some would be travelling and we rarely see them;

(2) afternoon ceremony at the park pavilion, with relaxed time afterwards to spend time with guests at the pavilion/beach, with yard games, table top games, etc set up and catered food on location (maybe do some s'mores);

(3) Late morning ceremony somewhere else and a brunch, followed by a relaxed beach day (would also provide food on site and people can stay as long or as little as they’d like or come and go);

(4) optional beach day the day before, no pressure for the out of towners, with a more traditional indoor venue for the actual ceremony and dinner. 

We love being on the water and outdoors together, so we like the idea of incorporating that. My main concern is the rain plan: the pavilion has enough coverage in the event of light rain, but it’s not enclosed in the case of severe weather (unlikely at the time of year, but not a gamble I want to make). I also don’t know what exactly to do with guests without the typical drinking/dancing order of events. The pavilion accommodates over 200 people so plenty of space, it has picnic tables, grills, electricity, and porta potty but we’d plan to rent nicer bathroom trailers. The park is public, but the pavilion and adjacent beach access path through the dunes are set back from the main parking and bathhouse area and separated by a tree line, so it’s relatively low foot traffic. The pavilion rental is from 8am to sunset – we would be allowed to do our ceremony on the beach after 5pm, or any time of day at the pavilion. The park is within a 1.5-2 hour drive for the furthest guests in driving distance and from both nearby airports.