Number of guests that attend ceremony

Hey date twin! Change your picture, you'll get more responses!

Yes, you should absolutely plan that anyone you invite to the wedding will come to both events. There may be a FEW that don't come to the ceremony, but definitely not 100. My advice is that if you are really committed to the chapel, cut your guest list. Otherwise, you could invite some to both and some to only the reception, but I really would not do that for a whole variety of reasons that I bet other posters will outline for you.

I would look into a bigger church/chapel if you want to invite that many people. It's acceptable to have a small intimate ceremony of extremely close friends and immediate family and then a bigger reception but a ceremony of 140 is in no way small or intimate.

There are really a number of factors that would factor into it. What time of day is the ceremony, how long is the time gap between ceremony and reception and what distance are people coming? I would assume everyone invited will attend both (at my wedding only 1 person who attended the reception didn't attend the ceremony) and don't invite more than can comfortably be accommodated at your ceremony venue.

The ceremony would be 2:00-2:30 pm and the cocktail hour at the reception begins at 5:00 pm.

That's quite a long gap. Will guests have anything to do in between? That MAY cut down on the number of people who attend both, but I think it's wise to plan that people are invited to both and may attend both.

I don't know anyone who would skip a ceremony and head straight to the reception unless they had a schedule issue and couldn't attend one or the other due to work etc. The amount you invite to the reception should be the same as the ceremony as well.

I only had 2 people out of my 120 that didn't attend the ceremony. We also had an additional 15-20 people from our church that choose to attend our ceremony because they as members of our small church wanted to witness our vows. It was their choice to make and we thanked them for coming and for their support.

You should have a seat for every butt. And you really shouldn't have a gap that large unless you and your guests have to travel a long ways after or for religious reasons.

Yup, most people will go to both.

You definitely need a bigger ceremony space. Most people will go to both. I recently was unable to attend the wedding ceremony of a grad school friend because it was at 2 pm on a Friday, followed by a 7 pm cocktail hour. The schedule was weird and I had to work, so I only attended the reception. That's an unusual case, however. Plan for the majority of your guests being at the ceremony.

If you can, please find a bigger ceremony space or lower the guest list. I was a guest at a wedding with the same situation; around 250 guests but the chapel only fit around 150. All 250 people came for the ceremony and so lots of people ended up standing or not even being able to come inside because it was so packed. And did I mention it was an hour long Catholic ceremony? My feet were killing me after 30 minutes of standing and it was way too early in the night. Just think of your guests' feet

Everyone needs to sit and no one loves a three hour gap. You may have a few less, but not 80 less.

Back to the drawing board.