Invited to bridal shower and only dancing part of reception

I don't think I have ever heard of this before. I have heard of some people being invited to the reception only, but never the reception being divided into dinner and after dinner invitations. I think that is terribly rude. If it was me, I would probably decline.

Thanks for your response! I was not invited to the ceremony.

Wow that is really really rude. A card will do, but I am with a lot of people on this. It would be one thing if it were ceremony or reception only, but the fact that it is divided is strange. Especially since you were invited to the bachelorette party and bridal shower.

Thanks for all your responses! I've had a few friends invite people to just the dancing part at the end of the night but not to any of the other events ceremony, bachelorette party, bridal showers, or dinner. I can understand if you want to include people to celebrate in your union but can't afford to feed them all but then you should only invite them to the dancing and nothing else then.

Really? I'm getting married. You're not invited to the ceremony. Oh, I'm not going to feed you, so you're not invited to the reception either. However, please join us for the dancing portion of our reception as I expect my "real" guests will have left by then. Oh, and by the way, here's my registry information. See ya there! Not.

Ellen, I would say RSVP your declination, but there's no need for that. Be a no show for the after party.

I could have sworn there was a bride who posted here who wanted to do this and couldnt understand why everyone told her she was rude.

I would be completely insulted. Nope id rather take the money id spend on a card, outfit, or whatever and go have a fun night with fh. Americans dont have enough free time anyways right?? Dont waste precious free time!!

It's a country thing. Splitting the event into three sections is the norm in the UK and it's not considered rude for guests to only be invited to the dancing part of the reception where there is usually a light buffet - whereas the ceremony and dinner is kept more intimate. If the bride is not from the US then she may not realise. If she is, well, then there is no excuse for her lack of manners.

But yes, you've given a gift so a card is a nice gesture - there's certainly no need for another gift.

Thank you for everyone's input!! Seems like a resounding theme! ShauniQ we are in the US. It's not the fact that I was only invited to part of the evenings events it was that I was invited to the bridal shower where I gave a gift and only was invited to the dancing. Etiquette is that you don't invite people to your bridal shower that you won't be inviting to your wedding.

Wow...just wow. I would tell her that while I would love to celebrate her union with her, I understand that she can't afford to invite everyone...and then politely decline the invitation to the dancing portion. Hopefully she gets the hint.

You gave a gift at the shower - that's sufficient!

I would go... And drink all their liquor

I've heard of it being done, but in two cases. one was there a bride had to split things up to avoid people coming together that would fist right.

other was a boss that invited all of her own employees (her store location) to everything, but other employees at other stores were invited to the reception after the dinner.

it was her way of extending a courtesy to what could have been a extra 100 people, so in general I think it was appreciated. the after dinner did include certain drink, cake and dancing. so it was a party.

not everyone would do that, but in her case it was either do it that way or totally exclude a lot of people that she worked with regularly. I think everyone understood and was happy just to be able to share in the day