Should you invite officiant to reception?

Yes.

Yes, you invite them no matter what.

And we are having a friend doing the ceremony, but not to cut cost.

Yes the officiant should be invited to the reception.

They should also be invited to the rehearsal dinner if they attend the rehearsal.

Yes.

Yes - he/she performed the ceremony! You wouldn't be married without him/her.

So definetly invite them, but do they get a plus one, and an invitation or do you just let them know?

We are having a friend ordained, but not to cut costs. Getting ordained is free, however. Just food for thought.

We didn't invite our officiant. She was a hired,paid vendor who we had no personal relationship with. She did stay for a drink at cocktail hour to chat with people, and then left.

You DO have to feed vendors that work the entire day (usually photographer and DJ, videographer if you have one, DOC, etc,

First of all, a 10 minute ceremony (or less) is literally "Have you come here freely? Yes. Say these vows, Fine, you're married". Having witnessed one this weekend (the officiant for the wedding before mine arrived AFTER their scheduled aisle time and my wedding had to be held so they could complete this masterpiece), I can tell you it was about as moving as getting a flu shot. If you're going to do a private ceremony for legalities, and/or you don't like being the center of attention, because you that's fine. As part of what is theoretically the most important part of the day, your guests deserve more than that. I'm doing a lot of weddings this year that have a private (really private, like 10 guests) ceremony immediately before the reception. (One of those brides had just lost her mother, and she really didn't think she could handle a big ceremony...) It will also make your venue insane; this is one of the top complaints from my venue directors; they allow a half hour for processional, ceremony,recessional, and if it's all over that fast, their timing is as screwed up as if you're an hour late.

f you have access to someone who actually does this and is friends with the family, AND you like what she offers, that's probably a good choice (and it'll make your MIL feel like she made a valuable contribution to the wedding (always a good idea, lol). If you don't resonate with her/him, then look further (the full price part has no bearing on this; unless she offers a discount, it's off the table...) Friends ordained? Sometimes a good idea (I've had two readers who now work with me as officiants....) sometimes not (we get those hysterical, "My friend bailed" calls almost every week..) It won't cost you any money, but I can tell you it'll cost you, and them, some stress.

But on to the question. Officiants should always be invited. If it's a family pastor or rabbi (or in this case, a family friend) they might stay. If it's a stranger they probably won't. Personally, I usually stay for a little of the cocktail hour, but never longer; I don't know anyone, I'm basically an awkward guest anywhere, and I don't want the couple to pay for me. Most of my colleagues don't stay either. Very often, we have two weddings on a day; they are emotionally draining (as happy and exciting as they are for us) and by the end......I just want to go home no matter how much I love you.

If you end up with a 'stranger' (by the time they marry you, they won't be a stranger, if they're any good), I think it's perfectly acceptable to casually invite them to join you for cocktail hour; it's kind of a good compromise for all.

Please don't do an under ten minute ceremony! Seriously, it's the most important part of the day!

What Celia and Nicole said.

With that in mind, we're having a pastor at our church doing our ceremony - we met with him for..uh...about 30 minutes and we'll see him again at the rehearsal and ceremony, so we literally do not know him. At all. However, he is invited to both the rehearsal dinner and reception because without him, we literally would not be married.

Yes, invite them. Unless they know a lot of people there, they will probably decline. But its the right thing to do. Also I would invite their spouse. My officiant and his wife are invited to both the rehearsal dinner and wedding.

Yes, invite them.

Yes, always.

We are inviting ours. I personally think the officiant is probably the most important part of the whole day. Besides the marriage license it's literally the only thing you need to be legally married, buy them dinner

Sorry…side question…Do you actually send them an invitation?

You should definitely invite them. A family friend was married last summer and did not invite the officiant to the reception, but he just assumed he was invited because he had been invited to every other reception. They had to scramble to find a place for him to sit and make sure there was enough food.

Oh crap - I feel awful now. We did not invite ours. I am fairly certain we asked him at our meeting though and he said he does not generally accept invitations to weddings he performs. #fail.

I understand saving money and cutting costs where you can, but the ceremony is the most important part of the entire wedding. I find it rather sad when people what to fly through it with as little expense as possible. Unless they make it clear beforehand how they feel about attending receptions, invite them.

Ive already had my meeting with my officiant when we signed our contract and most likely wont meet with her again, but will talk to her multiple times before the wedding, so would it be ok to invite her jut in conversation instead of giving her an actual invite?