Is it rude to ask guests to pay for all or some of the meal?

You already hit on it yourself -- because of the costs association with travel to the wedding, it would be rude on top of that to be expected to pay for their meals. The reception is the thank you to the guests for celebrating with you.

I've heard of a cash bar or limited bar but never the food part of it. Do some research of catering companies in your area and see what the price point per head is to help you gauge what you want to spend on catering. Looks like you may have some extra time for saving & planning to do to help ensure you don't have to charge someone to eat.

I've never heard of having to pay to attend a wedding, besides maybe a cash bar- anything else would definitely come off as rude. You are hosting, therefore you should pay- especially if people are traveling.

Why would you think that this would be ok? Even with never attending a wedding, surely you lurked a bit and looked at the budget posts, if not you should. If you prefer not to pay for a full meal you can look into a cake and punch reception around 2pm or elope!

Yes it's rude. The reception is to thank the guests for coming. Often they will have bought a new outfit, traveled, paid for a hotel and bought you a gift. It would be pretty rude to then ask them to pay for the party on top of this. Even if they haven't needed to travel, they're still giving up their time to be there for you.

Food and alcohol is a huge part of your budget, so if you're struggling with the cost, consider reducing your guest list so that you can fully host everyone. Stick around and ask questions, you'll quickly figure out what's considered to be bad hosting!

It would be incredibly rude, and honestly I'm getting a little bit of second-hand embarrassment just THINKING about that. It would be like asking your friend to come over for dinner and charging them money for it.

If I received an invitation that included how much I would be charged for a meal, the RSVP would be immediately marked NO and mailed back. Wait, no, that's not right. The invitation and RSVP would go in the trash.