Open ceremony and closed reception

Inviting someone to the ceremony and not the reception is extremely rude. This is a move worthy of breaking MANY friendships over. Invite them to both or not at all.

You need to host anyone who is invited to the ceremony or keep the entire event intimate. A cake and punch reception would be fine.

Personally, I think it's rude to invite someone to the ceremony but not the reception.

Is there a way where you can cut costs in other areas so you can afford to invite everyone? If there are no places you can cut costs, I would highly consider just reducing your guest list so that everyone who attends the ceremony can attend the reception!

When we were planning catering costs we had to make cuts in other areas such as flowers, decor, and ceremony music which saved us about $1,000!

It is extremely rude to invite someone to the ceremony but not to the reception. Having a cake and punch reception after the ceremony for all of your guests would be fine and keep costs down drastically and still be a proper host to your guests. They are taking time out of their day, buying outfits and gifts for you.

I agree with the others. At least host cake and punch immediately following (perhaps the church has a social hall). It doesn't need to be long and doesn't need to have any of the traditional elements (dances, toasts etc). This would be a nice thank you to your guests and give you and your spouse an opportunity to greet and thank everyone for witnessing the ceremony.

Unfortunately, the PPs are right. The reception is used as a way of thanking your guests for attending. Especially if you are intending for your guests to bring gifts, you should have some sort of reception for them to come thank you in person and celebrate with you. As some of the PPs have said, you could do a cake and punch reception to take down your costs if it's finances that are getting in the way.

I would cut unnecessary costs like favors and add more guests to your reception. I wouldn't worry about giving guests favors if they aren't invited to the reception anyway, I can't imagine they would go.

Not to beat a dead horse, but inviting people to the ceremony and not the reception is beyond rude. Your reception is the thank you to your guests for attending your ceremony. If you cannot host the number of people at your reception that you invite to your ceremony, either cut the guest list entirely or host a cake and punch reception only after the non-meal time ceremony.

I agree with everyone else. I would be flabbergasted at coming to a wedding ceremony and then not being able to stay for the reception. You can always host a very intimate and small ceremony and reception. Good luck!

Unfortunately I agree with everyone else, but we were also running into a simpler issue. My thoughts to our solution (still thinking on it) is to invite close friends and family to the Ceremony and Dinner reception, but after dinner have a Cocktail Social for all those we were not able to invite to the Ceremony.

Does anyone have any advice of this? Thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thank you.