At Home Reception after Destination Wedding

Will people dance and drink in the middle of the day? Does the reception still get treated like a regular wedding reception even tho we had a destination wedding. I've never been to an at home reception after a DW, so I'm definitely a little lost on this. I've attended DWs before but none of my friends had an at home reception. We would just skip it except FH has a lot of aunts uncles and cousins. It will be about 80-90 people in all. And about 30 people will be going to our DW cruise. We're trying to keep the costs down since we are already paying for a lot of stuff on the cruise. We're doing a hosted welcome brunch and an excursion for the wedding party and parents the day before the wedding. Any and all help or suggestions is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance :0)

I'm planning one - if my honeymoon permits because of the timing. I do not have a lot of info for this, since I'm also into planning it right now and im definitely FOLLOWING this post.

I saw this, and maybe it can help. We will not be doing a bbq, but more like an extended brunch starting at 1pm; we will definitely have a DJ maybe not for dancing but to have some ambience and lots of food and booze, but it will be at FMIL backyard. Nothing fancy, people can go in jeans if they want- for us is just a celebration.

Haha. Not sure if you noticed, but that invitation is asking people to bring their favorite food or drink. Lol

FHs family definitely wants to dress up for it. His one uncle has MS so he can't travel for the DW, but wants to dress up. He's part of the reason I agreed to the at hone reception. I'm still liking to do a wedding venue or an upscale restaurant, with an open bar and catered food.

That actually brings up another question... do I have a happy hour?

ETA: Double Post

Following. I just found out my dad/ sister want to have some sort of reception after our partial DW (in FH hometown) so my larger family in my home state can come because many of the family won't make the actual wedding.

I want to be exact in etiquette so no ones feelings are hurt and people are hosted well. (TBH, it's a nice gesture and I'm appreciative but my sis wants to do it the next weekend after we get home from HM. Eek)

I'm curious as to whether or not we still do an "entrance". I have a friend that isn't sure if she can go to the DW, but I asked her to be in my wedding party. She wants to get a dress and be involved in everything, but she is hoping for a promotion at work which will determine if she can go to the DW or not. So bin sure she'll want to do an entrance, haha. But I'm curious about etiquette and what others have done.

I'm planning one too since both my FH's grandmas and most of his family can't make it to the wedding. We aren't hosting it though. FH's uncle and aunt are hosting it. We aren't really calling it anything. I would say its more of a hey, we are married, come hang out and eat some food type of thing. Not wearing my wedding dress. I would wear something like a bridesmaids dress, not in white either.

E.T.A: I don't think you should "re-create" anything. Like a grand entrance. It seems fake. Just have it like a BBQ.

Following!! We are doing a cruise wedding also and not everyone is able to come for different reasons. We are thinking of doing a BBQ, will have dj, photographer and florist. We originally had a wedding scheduled in our home town, deposits down and all and our vendors are being super sweet and letting us use them at a later event. The only thing I'm struggling with is I have not invited people who were originally on out guest list for example coworkers. Obviously I don't want my coworkers on my cruise, what's the proper etiquette? I've read here before it's rude to not invite everyone for both events like bridal shower then wedding.

Also does anyone think a recipe shower would be a good idea for a dw bride? We don't need anything as we have lived togethrr, I know I need to create a small registry with uogrades, but I would LOVE if my family and friends have FH and I recipes. I don't want my guests to feel obligated to purchase a gift when their spending money on a trip but my mom really wants to throw a shower. Is this a good compromise?

Yeah I'm struggling with the shower thing too. My best friend and MOH really wants to do one, as do my sisters. I told them no since we've lived together for years and people are already paying a lot for the cruise, but they keep asking :/

My boss also keeps asking me about a registry, ha. I feel like weird making a registry when I don't know what I'm doing yet for a shower or at home reception.

Agreed Tiffany. I threw a recipe shower idea to some of my friends and they liked the idea. Plus I saw cute recipe cards on wedding paper divas to send. I think we are wanting similar things for our wedding and I think an at home reception would be a! I'm glad there is somebody else that is in a similar situation!

Eta double post

Don't invite people to your after event that weren't invited to the wedding. Otherwise you're asking people to celebrate something that they were excluded from. Same with showers.

I'm having the same problem!! Let me know how you go about it.

Why would it be rude? Also I'm not asking them to, they asked me if they could. I don't know proper etiquette on this topic. I've read posts where people did and posts from people where only the bride and groom did, then others where it was very simple and casual like a backyard BBQ. Interested in your thoughts and opinions Matt.