Invite officiant to the Reception?

We did but he couldn't come since there is a mass service right when dinner is being served.

We are inviting ours and giving him a guest!

My officiant is my cousin so yes of course for me lol, but other weddings I have been to that have had a priest or minister or rabbi or whatnot have had them at the reception.

Mine flat out told me he wont be attending. lol he said that his wife is tired of going to them. i dont blame them at all.

We are inviting ours plus he's my FH father. Lol They will eat and probably retire to their rooms before the party kicks off.

My wedding is on a steamboat cruise, so the officiant is coming to the reception whether he wants to or not, lol (unless he wants to water ski away from the venue? lol, that image is making me giggle). I think it's typical to invite the officiant to the reception, though.

Absolutely invite the officiant! If you want them to lead prayer that's up to you but not mandatory!

We are inviting our officiant and his wife to the reception, but we are also friends with them. Someone will say a prayer before dinner, not sure who yet.

He isn't a friendor, he is a pastor at our church and we wanted someone that we knew well to officiate our wedding. We have him contracted through the church since that's how they have it set up, nothing is going through him.

If your officiant is a family pastor or rabbi, you should invite them and their SO to the reception. Whether you want them to do a prayer or not is up to you; many couples have a family member do that; I've written several table blessings for my couples but did not deliver them.

If your officiant is running the rehearsal (for the record, most independent officiants charge for that; it is almost as time consuming as the wedding itself, and usually the venue coordinator is a better choice since they will be orchestrating the processional on the day), they get an invite to that too.

If you are hiring someone like me? It's really up to you. I'd say most of my couples do invite me to either the dinner or at least the cocktail hour, but I never stay past part of cocktail hour because I'm not a guest and I don't want them to pay for dinner for me. Many of us have more than one event a day; it's not that we don't love ya, it's just the mechanics of making a living....

If my couples don't invite me to cocktail hour, the venues usually do because I'm at most of them multiple times a year and they all know me. They don't charge for that.

I personally like getting a 'real' invite, not necessarily with the rsvp/envelope, because it also gives me a clue to my couple's personality beyond what we actually talk about in putting the ceremony together. I remember one couple whose theme was chrysanthemums, which are flowers with huge symbolic meanings that I wove into the ceremony.

That might have been TMI.....lol....

ETA; Keep in mind that if your officiant isn't staying for dinner, having them say grace MAY cost more because it means they have to stay through the entire cocktail hour, seating, intros, toasts and first dance before grace is said. That means at least another hour and a half.

Yes you should invite him or her. Ours stayed for dinner then left. We also sent him an actual invitation in the mail. His wife was invited too but obviously she didn’t come as the logistics of that would have been a little odd

Celia Milton - can you tell me if I need to invite a priest who refuses to perform off site ceremony?

thank you

Yes and Yes

Yes especially it's a minister or a non-vendor (friend, family member, etc)

If they're more a typical vendor than I would treat it the way you are other ceremony only vendors (musicians, stylists, etc)

It's also at least polite to invite them to a rehearsal dinner

Ours will be invited along with his wife. But we do not pray, so no need for that.