Destination Wedding + Reception at Home

jillyg79

We are getting married in Las Vegas in May and are inviting about 30 family members and friends, but that doesn't include many of my fiance's family members (he has a large extended family). We chose a destination wedding to keep things simple.

So, we figured we would have a casual backyard barbeque for his family and some of our friends who we cannot invite to the Vegas wedding. However, I just did a count and it's around 70 people (including the 30 invited to the wedding but I definitely don't want to leave them out). Yikes! That's too many people for our house / backyard, especially if it rains, and it would likely cost just about as much as our ceremony and reception in Vegas ... to me, that defeats the purpose of having a simple wedding away to begin with.

Any ideas on how to keep the costs down but still have some kind of get-together? I personally would rather not go to the trouble / expense but everyone seems to expect / want us to.

One idea is just a simple open house but that sounds pretty boring, especially for our group of friends!

Anyone else in the same boat? What are you doing? 

 Thanks!

flutgrl1

We did that too. We got married in vegas Had about 30 attend. Had a  AHR reception  2 weeks later.

Is there a local community room you could rent out for the party? Then just get deli trays and some hot apps from BJs or something.

jillyg79

Thanks for the ideas. For those of you who did something like this, what time of day did you have your reception?

We could do a park or community center room but the places near us typically do not allow alcohol, which is a deal-breaker for us and our group!

We have discussed it and we may just do an open-house style reception at our house or a super casual bonfire / pitch-in at my fiance's parents' house where we provide the meat, alcohol and dessert but ask guests to bring a side. It will mostly be his family and that is how they typically do holidays and get-togethers.

Is it tacky to have a pitch-in? If we go that route, I don't think we'll call it a "reception" or send formal invites ... more like a get together when we return from our honeymoon.