Tiny Ceremony, Drop-In Reception, Proper Invite Etiquette??

You mean, not sending invitations? Just STD's? Ive never heard of doing that, so im not sure what is proper in that situation

I would send actual invitations instead of a FB event. What do you mean by drop-in reception? Are you going to have food, drinks, etc? Sorry just never heard of that.

Yes, just STDs and not invitations. Since not everyone is invited to the actual wedding we don't see the point in sending out formal invitations.

And by drop-in I mean instead of a sit-down formal meal just having finger foods along with the cake and people can come and go as is convenient for them.

I would still send invitations. Send ceremony/reception invites to those invited to the ceremony and only send the reception invites to those invited to the reception only.

Sending an Evite is better than making a Facebook event, and it's just as free. So I would do that over a Facebook event. My friend had a tiny wedding with just 20 family members and close friends, and she sent an Evite for a reception at one of our local hangouts. I think that's much less tacky than making an FB event.

Yes, I'm also curious as to what a drop in reception is? -- Oh, like a cake and punch reception.

And welcome to WW, Rachel! I hope you'll update your avatar (the rings) to ANY unique picture we can remember more easily when you need help in the future. This post tells you how to do that and more: https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/welcome-to-the-weddingwire-forums-please-read-if-you-are-new/b433c40c1a62b96a.html

I don't think they need to be fancy -- but I still think you need to send more than a fb event. If your concern is budgetary, VistaPrint is incredibly affordable and has some fantastic designs.

I would come up with something cute about celebrating your marriage and a drop-in reception (I think of an open house type party) for all of the invitees -- I'm sure there's some good wording if you google or the ladies on here are VERY creative. Then for the few that you're also inviting to the ceremony, have a second card with that invite in the same envelope with more traditional wording.

Whatever you decide, I think Fb only for wedding invites isn't a great idea....but that's just me.

Why don't you send an announcement instead?

^^a wedding announcement would be sent after the wedding which would defeat the purpose because she wants people to come to the reception.

I would not sent STD. I would maybe email just those few people you want to invite to the ceremony, then send them invites either in the mail or by email. I would send reception invites to everyone you want there.

Well that's why we wanted to do a FB event page; we don't have a set list of who we want to come to the reception. With it being, as Juliette put it, an open house style reception we want as many people as possible to know about it so they can drop by. But we can't do that if we do e-mail or snail-mail invites. I think I understand what PurpleSun meant about an announcement instead of an invite or STD but that still limits who knows about it.

So you want to do an FB event for the ease of being able to constantly let people know about it? Do you not have email addresses for your FB friends? Most folks will list one in their profiles, so you can still let them all know about it with an Evite to class it up a bit.

But in the end, it's up to you. If FB works for you, go for it. We may not like it, but you aren't inviting us. Otherwise, what you are planning seems perfectly fine, no etiquette violations that I can see. Even FB isn't really etiquette as much as a bit too casual for some of us.

Haha thanks If there's anything I learned from the chaos of planning my sister's wedding it was that I want my own to be simple and casual and low stress. My fiance and I are both very laid back, low stress, come as you are people and we want our wedding to reflect that.

I love the casual low stress part. And the backyard finger foods/apps type party is great, as long as it's not a mealtime.

I just think the STD/FB thing is kind of weird. Not for etiquette reasons - it just seems odd to send a STD with no invitation following. And then even if you want this to be casual, I would still think you need some sort of idea how many people to expect, no?

If it were me - I would get a couple of VP groupons. Make a cheap/free postcard STD. Send that to the people who are invited to the ceremony. Make another cheap/free invitation postcard to the people you're inviting to the ceremony. And make another cheap/free invitation postcard to the people you're inviting to the reception. You can state that no RSVP is required, that it's an open "more the merrier" type of event where they can drop in as they wish between x and x time.

Then go with Facebook. If it suits you and suits your guests, go for it. I'm (as you may have guessed) not so casual, but my wedding passed! Just at least make sure to make a super cute picture to post on your FB event -- I hate when there's not some kind of picture or logo. Best of luck and happy planning!

I would skip the STD's and send out a simple, card invitation instead. There is no point for a save the date if no invitation follows IMO.

I am having a small wedding like 10 guests, so I understand the comfort of not having to deal with a large stressful wedding. I did send out STDs and formal invitations which were reasonable from VP. I don't think it is anything wrong with creating a FB invite, but just keep in mind that not sending invitations or RSVPs will make it difficult to gage how much food and drinks you will need.

I am doing a small ceremony and come and go reception about two months later. We are sending announcements and invites to the reception after the wedding.

I would do a postcard - to show casual-ness! I think it could be a mix of an STD and an invite. I would just call it a wedding celebration

Sounds like you want an open house instead of a reception. My cousin did this, and no one seemed to mind. Where I live we call celebratory parties where people can stop by whenever and just snack on apps a maybe sandwiches an Open House. It sounds like that is what you want.

Skip the STDs and send an informal invite for the open house. You can do a nicer, slightly more formal invite for the ceremony.

I would not send STD's and just do the facebook or even better IMO use Eventbrite. I think many people just click things on facebook and may have no real intention on going or what not...it may be difficult to try and guess how many people actually might show up. Is this going to be right after the ceremony or at a later date?

We are doing something similar. We had a lot of drama and infighting with the family so we decided to have a private ceremony. Take pictures, and then go to dinner with the 6 or so people we invite. After the honey moon we will drop by some family/friends and visit them personally on our way back home.