Not everyone is invited to my receoption

Just to clarify, you are inviting 300 people to your ceremony, but only have 150 to your reception?

Your 300 guests should all be invited to the reception. That is your thank you to the guests for coming. You need to properly feed your guests. It would be in poor taste to not invite all the the reception.

If you are inviting 300 people, all of them should be invited to the reception. There will be hurt feelings for those who can’t come to the reception since they were invited to the ceremony. If you are going to invited 150 to the reception then those are the 150 that should be invited for the ceremony.

Yes! You can make 2 separate events with diff guests lists and when people go to RSVP it will show which event they are invited to!

Sometimes a situation could accommodate two levels of invitees. This can often be a church wedding where members may attend but realize the reception is for a narrower group. Even then, it would be good to have a brief reception for those church members before going away to the smaller reception.

A tiered wedding day where you rank your loved ones yet expect gifts would be considered tacky, cheap, and offensive. You risk ruining all your relationships both personal and professional. There are many reasons why this is not common except for the cultural open church ceremony where everyone from the community is invited to the ceremony but know they are not close enough to the couple to expect a reception invite. Even then the couple graciously does slight refreshments as thank you. Save your spouse, family, and yourself from shame and host whatever # you can afford comfortably and graciously.

Everyone is invited to the cocktail hour not everyone is invited to reception my family is huge and as much as I would love to feed everyone a full meal I cannot afford that. So the nasty people who commented on me being tasteless your more than welcome to write a check to contribute to all 300 people eating and I will gladly include them.

Also my reception space doesn’t allow for that amount.

View Quoted Comment You and your future spouse make the decisions for your event. Days of everyone invited are long gone due to inflation and culture. No one, not even family, is entitled to attend you're wedding and you shouldn't feel obliged to accommodate their expectations if beyond your budget, vision, or space. Also, YOU choose the venue as well so if too small, choose different. You're not helpless here.


Or you can do a less formal event and explore other myriad of ways to cut costs.

What app you using for rsvp? I used The Knot or honeyfund it give u the option to let certain ones know. Or use Facebook messenger to send the link to only the ones you want there.

View Quoted Comment You dont have to explain. Do what you want its ur wedding. Some people may be upset but let them know I couldn't afford for everyone to come and the space isn't big enough.

Ignore the rude comments from other people. It's your day do what you want. For me I am sending out separate invites for people who are invited to the ceremony and reception (about 30) and an invite to those just invited to the reception (around 100) so they will all RSVP on the same website I made (or message me personally for the older crowd) but I know who I invited to what so when they rsvp its not hard to keep the numbers straight. idk if that helps but I hope your big day is awesome and you enjoy spending time with your large family.

View Quoted Comment Thank you I appreciate the advice

Hey I've figured out how to only invite certain people to certain functions. You can rename it in the RSVP as well.

To add guests to a specific event, follow these steps:
1. Log in and go to the "Planning Tools" tab.
2. Select "Guest List."
3. Click on the event you want to add guests to.
4. Hit the teal "+Guest" button on the top left of the page.
5. Check the boxes of the guests you'd like to add, and don't forget to select "Save" to save your changes.

Once you've added your guests, they will be able to RSVP on your wedding site.

View Quoted Comment Well, it sounds like you want a private ceremony with a larger reception. This is more commonly accepted. OP briefly describes a ceremony and cocktail hour where everyone is invited, but then half are asked to leave after their drink, then watch the other half walk into the big room (if at one location). It would be smoother at separate venues if they go the family reunion route.

View Quoted Comment

You make a good point. If everyone left and only certain people went to a second location for the dinner that would make things a little easier.

I'm confused over how the venue has space to allow everyone at the cocktail hour but not the reception. And I think etiquette doesn't allow for being invited to the cocktail hour but not the reception.

I want to have my reception at a specific place, so I'm paring down my invite list in order to be able to afford it.

View Quoted Comment Thank you super helpful.

View Quoted Comment Thank you this was so helpful. Everyone wants come to the wedding lol I’m the first to get married in 10+yrs so everyone wants to come.

View Quoted Comment It’s lovely that everyone wants to come to your wedding but it seems like everyone I know, including my son at this very instant, is trying to figure out how to strike the balance between cost and whom to invite. I’m afraid that all of those who want to join you will be terribly disappointed, offended maybe, if they are turned away after the ceremony. I think most people really look forward to mingling and celebrating at the reception, even more than the ceremony itself. I could be wrong. Might be easiest to just explain costs are keeping the wedding to just x number of people. Seems like most would understand?? My son and fiancée might just elope and have parents, grandparents, siblings, and who their wedding party would be. Might save money AND hurt feelings. Best of luck to you!