Help!! Not sure what to do???

kaysang

I'm in a really bad spot.. I have a large family so our wedding is going to be mostly family, I would like to have "party" of some kind to invite EVERYONE too but I don't want people to have their feelings hurt that they are invited to a party but not to the wedding. What could I do???

Jen4948

You invite those who really matter to you to attend the wedding and a party afterwards called a reception.  If it isn't possible for you to invite everyone you like, you still invite those whom you can find room in your budget and your venue for.  Caveat:  All spouses, fiances, and SOs must be invited with their partners.  Beyond that, you don't worry about hurt feelings, because anyone who tells you about them is being rude.  Nobody is entitled to a wedding invitation from you.

vanityink

If you'd like, you can have your wedding and reception, and then hold a "meet the newlyweds" party. The second party is NOT a reception, so no first dances, etc. (those would happen at the wedding reception) but it could be nice to get everyone together that way.

What you *shouldn't* do is hold a ceremony/reception for the "important" people, and then invite everyone just to the dancing part. It's called a tiered reception and very rude (look around at the half a million threads about those)

misssunshine17

Honestly, I would roll my eyes at a "meet the new couple" party. It's a consolation prize and your guests will know that. Have your ceremony and reception the day of with the people you want there, not the people you feel obligated to invite. We generally suggest inviting in circles- aunt & uncles, cousins, etc.

s-aries8990

Can you host a holiday open house after the wedding? It says your date in is Nov...

OliveOilsMom

Could you just plan an alternative start time to accomodate all of the people on your list?  If you have an 8 pm ceremony, guests won't be expecting a meal and you can have a reception of appetizers and desserts.  It could still have a party vibe and would allow you to stretch your budget to include the friends you would like to invite.

MyNameIsNot

How about cake and punch at after a 2:00 p.m. ceremony?  It might not be as fancy as you'd hoped, but you can pretty much invite everyone you want.

Or cut some family from the list.  There's no rule that says you must invite everyone you share DNA with.

hmdyer

We invited all the family we were expected to invite (most I havent seen since I was a baby) and had them RSVP in enough time so we could invite our friends. For us most of our family wont come they just will be offended if they don't get an invitation... 

If you are positive your family will attend just do a cocktail hour with some cake and plenty of appetizers. Serve a signiture red and white wine with some soft drinks. Easy!

You could also think about doing a morning wedding... at our venue a sunday brunch wedding costs half as much as a saturday dinner wedding...