Morning ceremony followed by evening reception with extended family?

While I haven't executed this type of plan, I was a reception guest as a result of this type of plan. Our friend was married April 2021 at a venue that was limited in guest numbers due to Covid restrictions. Only their family members were invited to their ceremony which was livestreamed for the rest of us and then they had a reception at a private venue 3 hours away from the ceremony site later in the evening with a lot more guests. I wasn't offended at all (and was happy not to do all that traveling). We were honored that the couple wanted us to celebrate their day with them at their lovely reception.

We went to a wedding where the ceremony was at the courthouse with just their immediate family (her Austrian relatives were Skyped in), and then the rest of the guests came for a cocktail style reception. It was perfect and very them, and we were in no way offended!

I’ve been to a few of these and they always backfire. Guests don’t want to fend for themselves for hours on end and they will take off and not attend your wedding if there is a gap longer than driving time between venues. Some people don’t like the idea of attending reception only because they get the unspoken impression they aren’t good enough as they were not invited to the ceremony, even if that is not your intention at all. I’ve seen the argument presented that “it’s cheaper to invite everyone to reception only” but the ceremony is not charged per person as the reception is. If you want to have guests in attendance, invite them to everything or if you want to elope, send announcements without a reception. But tiered weddings where one group is invited to a different event than the majority is not always favored as a polite thing. Some people would prefer to just have an announcement than attend a reception only for a ceremony they were not invited to. To gauge the response, you need to be clear about your plans with your important people and be respectful of their feelings.

View Quoted Comment Depending on the venue, it’s definitely charged per person. Our ceremony chapel charges a couple thousands just by having at least 12 guests. The more guests you have, the more they charge. I definitely understand the time gap between ceremony and reception time though, so that’s something I’d definitely take into consideration. Was also worried about it coming off as impolite.

To me, I think of this in terms of a graduation celebration (another once, maybe twice in a lifetime event). Only a handful are invited to the ceremony due to capacity limits, but then there is a party after for all near and dear to celebrate the achievement. No one seems to be offended about that, so why would knowing there are capacity limits to a wedding ceremony be any different when everyone is invited to the reception? These past two years have all been about couples having microweddings and having bigger receptions after whether it's the day of or year later. I say you do you!