Is this rude?

I think it's rude. ETA if the ceremony happens on a different day and guests know there wont be one i dont think it's quite as bad but i have definitely thought there would be one then there wasnt and i felt really sad about it for some reason.

Yes this is rude. Rude not just on WW either, FYI.

ETA: Tiered wedding, not b-listing. There's not enough coffee in me.

The general consensus on Wedding Wire is that it is rude.

It is so rude, unless you are JUST having a tiny wedding with parents and siblings, and everyone is aware of this.

I believe general consensus is yes you can do this IF you keep the ceremony guest list very small - bridal party and immediate family only. This is something that would not fly with my family but it works for others.

If I am wrong I apologize, but that is the advice I have seen here previously.

ETA-- A lot of people do it for DWs, elopements, etc. Are these exceptions?

This is a pretty iffy line.... this is called a tiered wedding. Personally, I don't think its as bad as inviting people to the ceremony but not the reception, but serving them dinner is a must. So by reception, do you mean they will be served dinner? I think the rule to this is having a small, intimate ceremony (immediate family only) and then inviting the rest to the reception. Otherwise, people may feel slighted, "Oh I wasn't good enough to witness your marriage but I can come to the reception?"

Having a private ceremony in Aruba and then a reception a few weeks later in your hometown? Not rude.

Having a ceremony in your church with only 50 people because you want to keep it "intimate" but then invite 150-200 people to the reception immediately following? RUDE AF.

If I wasn't invited to the ceremony but I was to reception I would not go and I would not continue to be friends with said person. It is rude.

I've had a few people ask me to come to the ceremony and they know they are not invited to the reception. I told them sure. If they wanted to. But, I wouldn't invite them to the ceremony without them asking to just be apart of it.

I agree with @Beutivant. Destination weddings are different IMO but just inviting people to a tiered reception is not nice. This has never happened to me before but I feel like I would be really offended to not be special enough to share in the beautiful ceremony but "special" enough to be asked for a gift at the reception.

I think it's rude

If it's a destination wedding, it's fine in my opinion.

I had a friend get married at Cinderella's Castle in Disney World and was only allowed to have a certain number of guests there, so she could only invite immediate family & the bridal party

Then she had a reception back home for everyone else, which FH and I went to and had a good time.

To me, it's rude. A reception only (without the ceremony) is just a party. A party is fun but I'm not going to take PTO, and travel to one ,where as I would for a wedding.

Aren't certain religious wedding an exception too? Like LDS wedding are generally small and cannot be attended by people who are not LDS, but they could have a secular reception with their friends who don't share their religion.

I think its rude but I do see so many people around where I live doing it.

It's fine IF IF IF the ceremony is TRULY private, as in just your IMMEDIATE family. Like under 20 people. Not 50 for the ceremony and the 100 for the party. That's rude.

That's not B listing; B listing is when people decline and you invite more people after your first wave of RSVP's come in.

It's not tiered. Tiered is inviting some people to dinner and others to a 'dance'.

If you want to do it, do it; we've officiated this way many times, but 'private' is not a subjective thing. It really does have to be just your parents and siblings.

I would consider it rude unless:

1) you elope (just you and spouse or you, spouse and immediate family members) and have a reception after

2) the reception is on a different day from the wedding - like when couples have a small DW and then have a larger reception at home to celebrate

Super rude!

My cousins did this and didn't mention anything on the invite. We walked in at the time the invite said to and felt like we were late.

Apparently the bride had cold feet and didn't want the whole family there. But it would've been nice to know that beforehand. Probably wouldn't have attended. We felt like we were only there for our gift.

Then we were stuffed like sardines into a venue fit for half of the number of guests they invited. It was awful!

Rude.