Family ceremony, friends and family reception

Yes it is considered rude to only invite to the reception and not to the ceremony

I think this is rude. I wouldn't go to celebrate a wedding I didn't witness.

It’s not unheard of where I’m from. Some people prefer a small, intimate ceremony followed by a bigger reception. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. I wouldn’t be offended or upset about only being invited to the reception.

It's not wrong to have a small, intimate ceremony and a larger reception. That means guests at the ceremony are limited to close family and total under 20 people.

It's seems ODD to me(just personally), and I ONLY attended 1 reception where the Bride and Groom eloped and came back and had a separate reception, and it just felt weird when they talked about their ceremony as they were speaking at their reception, It sounded nice, but weird at the same time *shrug*......BUT at the same time, THIS is your big day, Go with what makes you and your FH happy.....don't worry about haters....Be confident and happy in whatever descion you make.

I don't think it's rude. This is similar to when a couple elopes, or gets married at the couthouse, and has a celebratory reception afterwards. I would definitely advise people it's a reception only. Maybe word the invitation saying: "you're invited to a reception celebrating the marriage of..." The main invitation card can be the one giving information about the reception, and you can use an insert card providing details about the ceremony. This way you can also make adjustments as necessary and don't have to print two sets of invitations.

I'm not sure how much time will pass between the ceremony and reception, but it may be nice to have pictures available for guests to view during the reception so they still feel like they were apart of "the big day".

While I completely understand wanting a small intimate ceremony, I would be confused as a guest if I received an invitation to the reception only.

I have been to weddings where only the family was there and a few select friends. When I got to the reception there was like 200 people.

I was really disappointed when I went to a wedding and found out it was just family and I was only invited to the reception. Drove 4 hrs for a luncheon basically

I think this a bit rude. You're pretty much telling me you like me enough to party with me and get a gift, but not enough to see the moment you become a family.

That's icky in my opinion.

If your reasons for doing this are financial, please don't. The reception is the expensive part, adding guests to your ceremony only adds the cost of chairs which are very cheap to rent. (Or commit a major WW faux pas like I did and have most guests stand.)

If it's just because you don't want a lot of people there, think about why you want all these people at a celebration afterward. Does this really make sense?

If you think about all that and still decide to do it, make sure it's very clear on the invitations that people are coming just to a reception, not a wedding. I have only ever seen this done when people do a small destination wedding and celebrate at home later, so everyone knows they did the destination wedding. In your case people will not know you are getting married without them, and it would be rude to mislead them even unintentionally.

I have seen people do it but usually it would small like 10 people attend and they let people know from the beginning, don’t lead people on and let them believe they will be invited that’s when it gets awkward.

This can be very rude. If you only have parents and siblings at the ceremony, MAYBE, but if anyone outside of parents and siblings is invited, it's definitely rude. Even with just parents/siblings, I'd consider it rude to then invite everyone to the reception. What's the purpose of this? The purpose of the reception is literally to thank guests for coming to the ceremony. It would seem gift-grabby to not invite them to the ceremony and only have them present at the reception.

I think its acceptsble ONLY if your ceremony has just your parents and siblings there, and make sure to phrase your recveption card as a celebration if marriage (since people won't get to witness the marriage). Even then I still think it's slightly gift grabby and rude.

Thank y’all so much for your input! My fiancé and I have decided to have everyone attend the ceremony and reception.