Church wedding with two receptions?

almostamanda

It has been my dream to marry in my hometown church since I was young.  But since there are no reception venues around, my reception will be an hour away.  It is a little pricy, so my guest list is aimed at staying under 200. 

The problem is, I would love to invite a lot of my church family, but cannot afford to invite them all to the reception.  This could add another 100-200 people!  My dad suggested that we print a general invitation to the wedding in the church bulletin and have a small h'orderves reception in the church's hall.  (If I had the full reception at the church, we could not have any dancing or champagne.) 

I think this would be a nice break for travelers to grab snacks and hit the bathrooms before driving to the reception.  It also gives FI and I time to greet everybody that we wish we could invite.

Is this tacky and rude?  Our intentions are pure and we want to share our day with our friends without taking out wedding loans!  Any suggestions are appreciated!

EDIT:  Sorry to post this twice - I have sketchy internet tonight. 

You all shared my same concerns, so thank you.  I just wanted more opinions before I shot down my dad's idea.  He was just trying to help. 

gailpete

It would be acceptable to post in the church bulletin the time and date of your ceremony.  If any church members want to attend, they can since a church is considered a public place.  You can have a receiving line at the end of the ceremony to say hello to everyone.  Once you offer refreshments, you are setting up a tiered reception where those that aren't invited to the "real' reception will feel like second class citizens.  Though your intentions may be pure, the actual implementation will lead to etiquette problems.