I need help. I’m trying to figure out the best way to include everyone we want to invite to our wedding and reception. Has anyone ever invited family and close family friends to the dinner portion of the reception. And, then invite other friends/co-workers to the reception for more of an “after-party” to celebrate with us when the dinner is over? We’d like to invite everyone to the wedding ceremony which will be held at our church. But, then invite some people (family, close family friends, out of town guests) to dinner right after the ceremony and other people just to an after party at the same location. During the after party, We’d provide drinks and some sort of light hors d oeuvres. I know this is not the most traditional way to handle a wedding reception and some of you will say it’s rude or improper to only include people in a portion of the day, but I'd like to divide it up this way for a couple of reasons. The first reason being we’re having the reception in our friend’s backyard and space is limited for seating for dinner. The second reason is that my family and my fiancé’s family do not really drink. We thought it might be best limit the amount of drinking that goes on during the early part of the reception when parents, grandparents, etc. are still at the reception. But, after dinner we really want to be able to enjoy a few cocktails with our friends and celebrate our marriage without offending any family members. Has anyone ever done anything like this? Any advice on how to word the invitations? Or, am I over-complicating this and just asking for a messy situation? Any advice, input, suggestions you can offer is greatly appreciated.