pastor question

Do you want him there? I probably would...but I have no idea if you SHOULD.

I'd say if he is doing your ceremony for you and you attend church with him, it's probably a good idea to invite him to the reception. He deserves to be fed as a thank you. As for the rest of his family, definitely invite his wife, but for the kids, that depends on if you are allowing kids at your wedding or not. I'd say no invite for the kids, just the pastor and his wife. I don't know who my officiant will be yet, but we will be inviting him and his wife to both the rehearsal dinner and reception.

I invited my officiant, his wife and his grandson but they are friends so the dynamic is a little different than your situation

You should invite him and his wife. I wouldn't invite the kids. If he is a friend of the family, and it sounds like he is, he may be very pleased to attend and possibly do grace before the meal. For those of us who are marrying people NOT in our congregations, an invite is always nice, but very few of us stay. It's not that we don't love ya, but I don't want you to pay for me, I don't know anyone, and for a guest, sitting with the minister is total buzz kill.

But you're sweet to think of it.

My parents are pastors. They don't care if they are invited to a reception. In fact they don't like going. Everyone is different though. If you do invite your pastor then yes you'd invite his wife. Also if you invite them do it ahead of time when you invite everyone else.

It's usual to invite them & they almost routinely decline unless you know them beyond the normal pastor/parishoner relationship.

Thanks guys I appreciate it

We are inviting ours and his wife.

I'm inviting my pastor and his wife of course, as she attends church too and I know her just as well. I am not inviting their kids, but I'm not inviting anyone's kids.

Pastors are people too, lol. If you're inviting other people's kids then I don't see why not...I don't see why they wouldn't enjoy celebrating your marriage, or why pastors would automatically decline.

Hmm, I thought it was standard to invite pastor and wife...we are, but he has also been FH's pastor for about 20 years, so they would be invited regardless.

We're inviting the pastor and his wife. They're friends of ours though.

I invited our pastor to the rehearsal dinner and the reception. She declined the reception but is coming to have pizza and beer with us at the rehearsal dinner.

We are inviting our Pastor and his wife to the rehearsal dinner and the reception.