Invite to both ceremony and reception?

Creyo

My mom(zilla) is paying for the wedding, so I'm trying to do things her way mostly. One thing I'm not sure of is she says that she wants to invite some people to the wedding, but not the ceremony. I don't know who she is receding to since its either family or friends we want to invite. Either way it seems sort of bad manners to me to invite some people only to the ceremony. What is the etiquette on that?

mica178

Everyone invited to the ceremony must also be invited to the reception.

Creyo

Correction: invite them to the ceremony but not the reception. Sorry! I got distracted while typing! Lol

adamar15

Guests should be invited to the entire event, not just part of it.  It's rude to invite someone just to the reception.

dumdumfroggie

It's all or nothing.  Anyone invited to the ceremony must be invited to the reception.

lyndausvi

If you are invited to the ceremony you need to be invited to the reception.

You *can* invite people to a reception and not a ceremony but it has to be done carefully. (i.e. only having 10 people at the ceremony and 150 at the reception.  The other way around would be offensive)

mbody

It would be considered rude to invite people to the ceremony but not to the reception. It's all or nothing.

Maggie0829

Either way, it is incredibly rude to invite guests to only one portion of your wedding day.  You either invite them to everything or not at all.  I think your Mom would benefit from coming onto this board every now and then.

MyUserName1

You can tell mom that all the strangers on the internet think she's rude and you're right.

rebarobert2012

Guests should be invited to BOTH the ceremony and the reception.  It's very rude to only invite them to part of the celebration.  If you only invite them to the ceremony, it's like telling them they aren't good enough to celebrate with you afterwards.  If you only invite them to the reception, it's like telling them they aren't good enough to see you get married.

Also, if you only invite people to one and not the other, it looks gift-grabby, in my opinion.

lenergyrlah

The point of the reception is to thank the guests for attending your ceremony, and to celebrate that you are married.  It's rude to invite someone to the ceremony and then not thank them (i.e. you're close enough to come to the ceremony / bring a gift, but not close enough for me to pay $$ to feed you).  And it doesn't make sense at all to invite someone to the reception (thank them for attending the ceremony) without inviting them to the ceremony.  i.e. please come celebrate with us / bring a gift, but you're not close enough to actually see us get married.