Ceremony and reception on different days

Not heard of it but we're doing a super casual cookout style but in the spring at a park pavilion

People do it all the time. They get married in the courthouse or private ceremony then host a reception at a later date.

A friend of mine dida courthouse wedding and a super bowl party for their reception.

You need to have at least some food for the people who show up for the intimate ceremony. But you can have a larger reception later.

You'd still need to host food, so i dont' know how it's saving you thousands. Honestly, I'm not personally a fan of this - why would you invite people to celebrate an event that they weren't invited to?

Usually when I hear that it's due to elopements. My friend and his wife got married in a private ceremony just themselves and then months later they had a reception with family and friends

I would make sure anyone invited to the small ceremony was fed in some way (even just going for a dinner after). But I've heard of a later reception before, that sounds fun!

We were going to provide a small dinner after the ceremony for the family that came. Of course I want to invite people to celebrate our marriage even if they weren’t invited to the ceremony? Just because we want something intimate does not mean we don’t want our friends and family to share in our happy day. I think we’ve settled to do a backyard bbq a week later for friends and family with lots of games etc (ex: Giant Jenga, cornhole etc). If anyone has game or entertainment suggestions I’m open to suggestions!

View Quoted Comment We intend to have food for our guests at the ceremony. We want something intimate but we still want our friends and additional family to share in our happy day with us. It’s about celebrating the marriage and the relationship, not about throwing a big wedding/party.