Hi All,
My finacee and I are planning to have an immediate family only/private ceremony and then later in the afternoon/evening have a big reception (inviting around 200 people). I really do not want a ceremony at all so it will be super quick and pretty much just to satisfy our parents, so we really consider the reception to be our main celebration and will have an open bar and buffet style dinner and gourmet cupcakes. It was only just today after reading many wedding forums that I realized some people are going to think this is super rude/may not want to come, so I have not even thought about what proper etiquette would be and would appreciate some feedback.....
Would you send Save the Dates out for just a reception or should we only send invitations? If we only sent invitations with no prior date notice, how long in advance should we do that? And we should be explicit that we are marrying privately before the reception right?
Should we not register for gifts since it's just a reception?
Our plan for the private ceremony is for siblings/parents/and grandparents to be invited. For me, that's my two parents, my sister and her husband (4 people). However, my fiancee's parents are divorced and her grandparents are still alive so for her it would add up to be 14 people with her grandma, grandpa, dad & new wife, mom & new husband, brother & partner, 3 step siblings and their partners. I think we could get away with excluding her stepsiblings as they are not super close...but we should invite her parents new spouses and brother's partner, correct?
