Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have been married for 30 years, but when it comes to planning an elaborate wedding, they have some surprisingly blunt advice: Don’t.

The longtime couple, who eloped in Las Vegas in 1996, weighed in on the growing popularity of smaller, less expensive weddings during a prerecorded segment of “Live with Kelly and Mark.”

“Weddings are having a micro trend in 2026,” Ripa said, according to PEOPLE. “Tiny. A quirky cake. No big ceremony. Candles over flowers. Cost-effectiveness. This is the year of the cost-effective wedding.”

For Ripa and Consuelos, the trend sounds familiar. Their own wedding cost just $179 — including airfare.

“I loved our wedding,” Ripa told her husband.

“Our wedding was great. $179, including airfare, thank you!” she added.

The couple met while starring together on “All My Children” and eloped in Las Vegas in May 1996. Three decades and three children later, they still believe skipping the expensive ceremony was the right call.

Ripa even joked that she and Consuelos should start a “wedding service” for couples considering lavish celebrations.

“Oh, I like that,” Consuelos replied. “They want a big wedding, and they come to us for counseling. We’re like, ‘Don’t do it.’”

Ripa offered another reason for couples to reconsider spending heavily on a wedding.

“You could buy a house, you could have equity in your future!” she said.

Consuelos agreed, saying the expense of traditional weddings never made much sense to him.

“The money spent on these parties and flowers and rings and dresses, it just doesn’t make sense to me,” he said. “It never made sense to me, which is why we eloped.”

Ripa does have one small regret about their ultra-budget wedding.

“I’m still sorry that we didn’t spring for flowers because I always think my hands look awkward,” she revealed in June. “Flowers are extra. And somebody didn’t want to spring for flowers.”

She joked that there’s even one wedding photo she avoids showing because she didn’t know what to do with her hands without a bouquet.

Still, that appears to be about the extent of their regrets.

Ripa and Consuelos celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in May and share three adult children, Michael, Lola and Joaquin. The pair regularly joke about their relationship on their daytime show, but their unconventional wedding advice comes with three decades of experience behind it.

For couples feeling pressure to create the perfect wedding day, Ripa and Consuelos make a compelling case for keeping things simple. Their $179 ceremony may not have been extravagant, but 30 years later, the marriage has lasted far longer than the celebration.