Ceremony but no reception?

This should help

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/should-have-reception/b5798748f18576b7.html?page=2

To answer your question: no you absolutely cannot have a ceremony without a reception unless you don't invite anyone to your ceremony. If you can afford a honeymoon, you can afford a reception.

.....are you serious?

ETA - in case you actually are blind, there was another thread started on this exact subject about 15 minutes ago. Inviting people to the ceremony and not the reception is rude AF, as the kids say.

A reception is a thank you to your guests for coming to the ceremony. It's kind of rude to not have one. Of course the ceremony is the most important part of a wedding, but the reception is the fun part. I'd be very surprised if anyone from out of town actually came. People aren't going to want to take time off work, travel, spend money, etc. to come and watch you say I do and then leave. I wouldn't come unless it was less than 30 minutes from me. Even then I don't know if I would.

FUCK NO!!!!!

If you don't want a reception, get married at the courthouse.

You could serve cake and punch after the ceremony (let guests know this is the plan) and then you're off!

A lot of guys don't get the planning thing. It's not lack of excitement, they just don't always see the urgency. They might not know how popular some dates/days are and how long some things take. Which is why our fall wedding happened in spring

WTF IS GOING ON TODAY>

If you don't have a reception please let us know afterwards how that goes.... I'm sure your guest will love it.

*sarcasm ^

Is it Wednesday?

Hi @Blushingbride89 - you absolutely need to have a reception for your guests. The reception is a thank you to all of your guests for coming to witness your marriage (and for the gifts they brought and travel costs they incurred). It doesn't have to be a crazy all-night reception, it can be as simple as a cake and punch reception for an hour immediately following the ceremony (as long as it isn't during a meal time).

And yeah a lot of guys don't get or hate the planning stuff. It's mind-boggling even to me how early a lot of the wedding planning needs to be decided and booked!

.

How do we have two threads with this exact same topic right now?

No it would not be ok to do this. Your reception is to thank your guests for coming to share your special day with you.

Aside from the fact that this is rude, I just don't see the point of it. Do you even get to see your guests? Just wave to Aunt Ida while you're walking down the aisle and call it a day?

If people are taking time off of work, traveling, getting dressed up, and buying you a gift, they deserve a meal and to spend some time with you, even if it's just a cake and punch reception as Lynnie suggested.

What is happening? I didn't even think this was a topic people asked about.

Two threads in one hour about something that I never even knew could possibly be a question.

Stop the madness

You can get married with an officiant and two guests and go out to lunch. We do this a dozen times a month. But you can't really ask anyone to come to a ceremony, no matter how simple, without thanking them in some way. And you cannot do this with more than your absolute immediate family, though in some states you don't need witnesses at all. We rent witnesses to some of our couples, who literally get married in our smallest ceremony and go home.

Here we go again.

This has to be a joke.

@Rosemary - So perfect!

I think you can do a simple reception. You should at least have sandwiches or something for people that attended. I would just make it extremely clear that it's going to be a light reception. Have the wedding early, and then do a light lunch reception after.