Invitations to Church Members

I would say all or nothing .... unless you are close friends with them and see them outside of church... also keep in mind if you invite them to the wedding you should host them properly and invite them to the reception

I have heard most church ceremonies are open to the entire congregation, so if you don't invite them, but they show up, it is what it is. Then they don't have to be included in the reception.

Otherwise, no, I don't think you have to invite everyone. Are you inviting ALL of your coworkers, ALL of your friends/acquaintances, ALL of your extended family? Probably not. But yes, if you invite them, of course they need to invited to the reception.

@AshleyR i had the same thought process when i first got engaged! I started freaking out because when i started dounting numbers i realized if i invited the whole church then my guest list would be around 200 or more! Now of course some people wouldnt fome but i just did not want to take any chances so i decided that i would stick to the people i have a more personal relationship with which for me was around 20-30 not 150+. And that is churdh members alone! Lol add on the other 125ish we have that is literally close family/friends and needless to say i gave up the hope of a small wedding long ago! Haha

Also WW has helped me realize it is okay to not invite every single person you know. Weddings are expensive and its your day so i think you should be able to decide who you want to celebrate with you! (: happy planning (:

It's ok to only invite people you actually spend time with outside of church.

Unless you hang out with these people regularly outside of church and consider them dear friends, there is no reason to invite the whole congregation. Growing up, if we knew someone was getting married in the church and wanted to attend, we would sit quietly in the back and then go home (this was pretty common for teacher's weddings from our parish school). An invite was never expected.

Check with your church. My brother got married in our church and I believe all weding there are open to everyone in the church. That included the reception. It was part of the agreement to use the space.

We are active members of our church but only inviting a couple people from the church to our wedding since we actually see them outside of church. I know no one will blame up since we have a smaller budget. But we are also not getting married at the church..

I opened my wedding up to my church but it is their responsibility to say if they are coming to the reception or not. Just because we go to the same church, I can't assume that you are coming to the reception.

Its ok to not invite the whole church. Just people that you are close with. Do be prepared for hurt feelings, but that is their issue not yours. People shouldn't expect to go to every church members wedding. Mine was hard since my dad had previously been the pastor! But we held firm and invited only some church members.