guest list problems

MaryE57

I am having a church wedding at a large church that I have been a member of for years.  Unfortunately, the reception is being held afterwards at a much smaller venue.  The word has gotten out that I am getting married and I am having lots of requests for invites to the wedding.  I cannot accomodate all of these requests due to the small venue for the reception. This has been a major stress for me as these are all friends whom I've known for years.  Is it appropriate to advise people that are not on the guest list that I would love for them to attend the wedding but due to the reception location I cannot include them in the reception?

danieliza1127

You'll have a lot of people assume they are invited or want to be invited, but you just can't invite them because THEY want to come.  If people bring it up to you and you know they aren't going to be invited, just say something like "oh that is so sweet that you would come, but we are having a really small wedding so we can't invite everyone we'd like to invite".  Then leave it at that, or change the subject by asking how they are or something.

You really can't invite people to the wedding and not the reception.  It could also cause problems because you might have some of those people just show up at the reception, having followed other guests or other guests not realizing that person wasn't invited might talk about the reception and tell them where it is and "see you there" and create confusion.