Invitations!!

It is rude to invite people to the reception only. The ceremony doesn't cost that much beyond the officiant and license, so you will have guests wondering why the ceremony is small and the reception is big. If this is a budget issue, have the same folks invited to both and send announcements to the rest. But dont have a party that says "you're good enough to celebrate but not to attend the ceremony".

Etiquette exists to prevent people from being in uncomfortable situations.

Personally if I received an invitation to the reception only, I wouldn’t be offended. Especially if it’s an intimate ceremony. It would be different if like 90% of the guests were invited to both, then I would feel particularly excluded, but this isn’t your case so I believe it’s fine

Greetings.

I have to be honest, I think it is quite rude to be invited to the reception but not the ceremony. As someone mentioned before me, most people are able to speculate that the ceremonies often are a fraction of the cost of the reception, therefore people would wonder why they were not invited to both. However, I also understand your dilemma and believe your guests would be understanding in whatever you decide to do. My go-to motto for wedding planning has been, if they don't like it, then they do not have to come.

View Quoted Comment Lol!! Totally my same thoughts.

We have a wedding where we were invited to reception only and it was fine!! Sometimes the church can’t hold everyone and you want it to be smaller and intimate. You know your guests so you should be able to judge if those who aren’t united to the ceremony would be offended 🙂

I don’t this Itis rude at all to be invited to a reception only... the party is what everyone wants to anyways. Also ITIS YOUR WEDDING YOUR MONEY You can do whatever you want.


I’m a bride affected by COVID so people are definitely only about to have reception toGo to after this is done because we are eloping on our original date

I think it's completely acceptable to have separate guest lists especially if the ceremony is mostly just family. I'd use wording that invites people to celebrate following our family ceremony or something along those lines. It's your day so you get to do what you want

View Quoted Comment I like it. Thanks!

Im extremely late on here and I have no clue if I’ll get a reply but I hope I do lol!! I’m in a similar situation where my family is HUGE (100 people just MY family) vs my FH family (30 people). With covid and my mother getting sick and just overall budget we decided we wanted to do a invite to church for everyone and just immediate family to the reception which is roughly 40 of us. I know it’s extremely rude not to invite everyone but it’s so expensive and I’ve mentioned it to family members and they said no matter what they’d be at church because they know how expensive receptions are. Any thought?! HELP! Lol.

View Quoted Comment

I would still find that extremely rude. In my opinion, everyone who receives a ceremony invite needs to receive a reception invite.