Inviting co-workers to Ceremony and Dance only. Poster, email? How to word?

I don't think you should do this. Either they get invited to the entire event or not at all.

Just don't invite them at all, I would say. They'll come to the ceremony, go home, then come back to dance? What are they going to do during the dinner portion?

If you have an after party, invite them to that instead. Save yourself a lot of headache.

I personally wouldn't do this but I'm sure you can say something like "please come and celebrate with us" type deal. If y'all are semi-cool you can call her and ask if she wants to attend the ceremony. People around me are not sensitive at all so this would work for me but I would not do it.

See I was debating that as well.....I was not keen on the idea to begin with, my finance and mother put the idea in my head to invite to dance. I personally thought it was tacky....

But my finance is adament about it for his workplace.

I agree with Amanda. I think it's kind of rude for you to pick and choose what they can attend. I invited 2 girls from work, I just sent them an invitation.

It's especially rude if some coworkers ARE invited for dinner, but other coworkers aren't. If FH is adamant that these folks be invited, then he needs to be open to feeding them, too.

Here it's quite common to have family and close friends invited to the ceremony and dinner, and then to invite extra guests (coworkers, friends, etc) to the reception/party only (after dinner). Most that I've seen have a separate invitation made for reception only.

I'm not sure about inviting guests to the ceremony and then have them wait until after dinner to come back...it might be too long of a gap.

All or nothing.

Agreed, all or nothing. What if someone showed up early for dancing and walked in in the middle of dinner?...awkward!

That is what I was thinking @ Future Lobos!!!

I'll be perfectly honest. If someone at my workplace did this, I would think "WTF? If they can't afford to invite us to it all, just don't invite us." And more than likely I would say as much to at least one other co-worker who felt the same way. And we would likely remember this and think of you different.

This happened when we received pre-printed, non-personalized thank you cards, so it would happen with this "not quite important enough" invitation -- because that is what it looks like.

And while the other co-workers who ARE invited to it all wouldn't bother me, as I know some people are closer than others, I would imagine it wouldn't look very good and add fodder to the gossipers.

Oh, and I wouldn't attend at all.

You really shouldn't do this unless you're prepared to deal with a certain amount of backlash. Although everyone hates the word "etiquette", everyone also has a set of standards to define it, and some of those coworkers will define this as tacky. Actually, I'd be quite confused if I was extended an invitation like this. I might not say it to your face, but I'd realize that you wanted me to watch your ceremony, leave, and come back after the other guests had finished their dinner, so my response would be, "No, thanks."

The dynamics in the workplace will last a lot longer than a wedding reception. If he is determined to have his coworkers attend, then they must be invited to the entire event. If you can't accommodate the coworkers with a full event, then host a post wedding cocktail party for his coworkers later.

What Reens and Centerpiece Flowers said. There's no way to pull this off without looking like you're just trying to cut meal costs.

If you can't afford to feed them, then don't invite them. Give them announcements.

Tell FH no.

My ceremony will be at 11am and reception won't be till 6pm, dance starts at 9pm. Soo, I am not inviting everyone to the reception, just close family and friends. It's very common to do that here, the invites just include a seperate card for the reception or two different invites are printed.

If you are having yours back to back, then I see how this could be difficult to do.

@Soon2Bmrs -- if you invited me only to your ceremony, I would react the same as if I were only invited to the ceremony and dance part. I would say no, and I'd think you're tacky. Just don't invite them at all. If I work with you, I work with you, I'm not going to be hurt by not being invited. I'll say "Congrats! Did you get that schedule finished?" and move on.

Looks like you're getting good advice, and yes, your gut instinct was right, this would be rude.

Don't do it. it's beyond rude. If you want to have a little in work or after work party for them, do that.

If you don't even know them, why would you invite them? And why would they come?

I don't believe in all or nothing...I mean our ceremony will have 60 people and our reception will be 200. BUT...that's extremely rude. What are they supposed to do during the dinner hour? And if you just invite them for dancing afterward...what if they show up early while people are still eating? I mean that just says "I like you...but not enough to actually spend money on you". WAY rude. Wow.