How to invite for just ceremony/just reception.

It is rude to invite someone to ceremony only. You do need to host them with cake and punch minimum. The rest of the reception (dancing, alcohol) can be held elsewhere. For those invited to both ceremony and longer reception, say “Dinner and dancing reception at (address) at (time).

View Quoted Comment Yeah, I'm aware. I planned on inviting them to both. My question was regarding invitations.

View Quoted Comment The invitation usually has the ceremony information and then "reception to follow at..." I would just inform his family through word of mouth that there will be alcohol, so they are free to skip the reception if they are not comfortable.

The invite will list the info. Those invited to the ceremony will have one that lists ceremony information with a note at the bottom mentioning a cake reception immediately after. You include an insert with info for the longer reception for those invited to both.

Those invited to reception only will get a similar invite but with reception info instead of ceremony.

Since it sounds like you want to give them the option to choose ceremony, or reception or both, I think it might be best to have them rsvp for each event.
In your invitation maybe you could have 3 check boxes
1. Ceremony only2. Reception only (wasn’t clear if you’d give that option or not, you can always remove this option)3. Ceremony and receptionAnd then if you need their meal choices I’d put that under the ceremony and reception part.

I think your post is a bit confusing because it's the standard (in the US anyway) to invite your guests to the ceremony and the reception. So, just follow the usual invitation format for that. Your different situation is inviting people just to the reception but not the ceremony; you will need separate invitations for that group so that they don't mistakenly show up to the ceremony.

The bit about some guests not liking alcohol isn't really relevant to the invitations since you are still inviting them to the reception. If you think it will be less awkward for them to know about the alcohol ahead of time, have your future spouse tell them informally, but just send them the same invite all the other guests get.

For the people invited to the ceremony and reception, have an RSVP card with BOTH. So they have to RSVP to the ceremony and the reception. Let them know there will be alcohol. For those only invited to the reception, a normal RSVP card is fine. I’d print off a small number of invites for the crowd invited to both and a larger number of invited for the crowd invited to just the reception

Are the ceremony and reception on the same day? I think it would make more sense to simply not invite his family to the reception rather than not inviting everyone else to the ceremony. Also, they likely will find out about this party regardless so you are probably better off just inviting them. They’re adults living in the 21st century, sometimes they’ll be around alcohol. They don’t have to drink it. Or are you going to hide this party from them completely?