Cocktail Reception at another venue after dinner reception at church. How do I word this?

Why not have the ceremony at the church and the reception (dinner, dancing, booze) at the hall? That is the normal way of doing it if you are religious.

Because I don't want to make my guest wait 3 hrs to eat. The church is big enough and we are getting a great deal with doing the catering through them.

I think you should keep it altogether. And kudos for not making your guests wait three hours to chow. Seriously, they'll thank you.

Shayna and FH invite you to celebrate in their union

March 17, 2018

___ o' clock

[Address]

Dinner reception immediately following

[time]

Drinks and dancing

[time]

[Address]

To be honest is really not a lot of work because the hall is right up the street like 5-10 minutes away from the church and it's already going to be set up we're not sitting down eating so we don't have to decorate it as much or put in that much time to it it's just really a place for us to go and dance and drink. So so please everyone especially the older guest and our parents we rather just keep it there have everything right away not really wait to eat long and then continue on with a party

So don't make people wait to eat. Have the ceremony, then people drive to the reception hall for cocktail hour. One hour later, dinner is served.

Yea no alcohol at church but there is a lot of our guest that don't drink. But we still want to have fun through the night

We just decided to do it this way.

But why? There's a reason it doesn't work this way. It is choppy and inconvenient and people want wine with dinner and a million other reasons.

Because we did.

But...why?

@StPaulGal I'm giggling.

Hmmm. As I guest I would personally rather just go straight to the hall afterwards for a cocktail hour and then have dinner, drinks and dancing after that all in the same place. I would plan to be prepared on a lot people leaving after dinner. That is why I would personally want them to just stay in one place so they don't just want to leave.

Lol ok ok I'll tell you....hall only fits 100 for sit down dinner. My church holds 200. So with our budget it works out better. We may even party all night well 12 lol. So it's a party and that way we can have more guest. We have cocktail tables and all that stuff to fit more guest in.

Yes

I think you can word it that there is a dinner reception immediately following. I would call the hall part the after party and probably do a separate card or note it if you have space. You may lose some guests after dinner though...

Oh snap did I just read tiered reception?

So if the hall you chose fits 100, you invite 100. Or you pick a different venue that holds more guests if you want more guests.

I feel like this place will confuse people. So it's cheaper to have the dinner at the church but then you can't serve wine with dinner? Can't you move the reception up three hours and not have the dinner a the church?

If your reception hall only holds 100, then you can only invite 98 guests (minus you and your FH)

Every guest needs to be invited to every part of the wedding. You do not tier your wedding (i.e. Some guests get to come to dinner, some do not)

Either only invite 100 guests or find a different reception location.

I will play a little devils advocate here. Her hall venue may hold a larger number in a cocktail style reception, than in a seated dinner reception.

Honestly, I would find this to be weird. Ceremony, church dinner, then a gap and then cocktails and dancing elsewhere.

By "the church provides the catering" I now assume you mean ladies bringing potluck. Ugh.