is it rude to ask guests to respond back with if they will be at the ceremony, reception or both?

Igf you think someone is going to skip the ceremony, I wouldnt even invite them. That is beyond rude to not go to that- its the whole point of the day. I think it would be weird not necessarily rude to put that on the rsvp. Honestly just cut the list down and plan to use the same chairs at both ceremony and reception.

I think they should come to both, unless there is something unusual like a several hour wait between the ceremony and reception. It is rude to come to just the reception. You can write in how many seats they have at the wedding to cut down on unexpected guests and help you with the budget. If you really wanted to ask on the RSVP card wether they will attend both you could word it like:

The favour of your reply is requested

by the twentieth of May [whatever your RSVP date is]

Ms/Mr_____________[names filled in]

____ Seats have been reserved for your party

________ will be attending the ceremony

________ will be attending the ceremony and reception

_______ Will not be attending

We asked our ours. We have several people who are either disabled, or in poor health, or elderly who may not be able to do both the ceremony and the reception. My expectation is that they'll come to the ceremony and not the reception, I'd be a little shocked if they responded for just the reception. We do have one person who I know is only attending the reception, but he's got another wedding (in which his gf is part of the wedding party) on the same day, so we told him not to worry about it and just to show up and celebrate with us when he can.

Ours is phrased like this:

Names of those who will joyfully attend the wedding and reception:

____________________________

____________________________

Names of those who must regretfully decline either or both:

____________________________

____________________________

Even if you pull this off, you are having your ceremony and reception at the same location, I think it's beyond rude to usher people away after the ceremony when the others are lining to eat during the reception. Are you having somebody controlling the crowd on who needs to go or who needs to stay? I think you should just trim down your list, not only will you save money from chairs and tables that also go towards saving on you invitation, food, and more.

It's not about turning people away from the reception, just asking if they plan to attend. I certainly wouldn't usher anyone away, it just more about getting numbers so that I can best plan.

Welcome to WW, Stacey! I don't think it's rude if you really believe people will come to one but not the other, but for most weddings I would think it a bit unnecessary. We did all our RSVPs online, which is automatically set up to ask folks to RSVP for both the ceremony and reception. Our entire wedding was in the same place, though, with just a short "coffee" hour (not even a full hour) so it wasn't a real concern for us.

Though it sounds like for you, it would be unnecessary, as the entire event is at one place. Even if some came to the reception but not the ceremony, you'd still need the chairs for the entire event, so just asking for an RSVP will suffice.

I hope you will stick around and update your avatar (the rings) to ANY unique picture we can more easily remember in the future! This post tells you how to do that and more: https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/welcome-to-the-weddingwire-forums-please-read-if-you-are-new/b433c40c1a62b96a.html

Oops, i guess i should have said that our ceremony and reception are not at the same place, so using the same chairs would not work.