Family Only Ceremony

eas1 · August 2010

The church we want to have our ceremony at holds about half of our total guests. How do we know where to draw the line at who to invite to the ceremony and who to invite to just the reception?

kathrynhabibti · August 2010

You don't, and you find another venue. If they're invited to the ceremony, they're invited to the reception, and vice versa. The only exception to this is if the ceremony is going to be small, and truly so: like immediate family and perhaps grandparents.

cupcakesfrosting · August 2010

You don't. Invite people to both, or not at all.

laurenclaire1386 · August 2010

You don't draw the line. You need to invite everyone to both. They are not seperate events and I can promise you your guests will be offended if they get an invite to one, but not the other. Scale back your guestlist, or find a new ceremony venue. And hit post once, I promise it'll post. It's slow sometimes.

Beachy730 · August 2010

The only way you can not invite certain people to the ceremony is to make it a private intimate ceremony of close family only, like parents, grandparents, and siblings. If you can't do that, then you need to find another venue. There is no other way to do it without being rude.

andy71781 · August 2010

Ditto PPs. You need a different venue or a different guest list that fits into your venue.

starrynight1658 · August 2010

Agree with PPs. We're doing a family only ceremony, but it is just immediate family (parents, siblings, grandparents). We've had a few people ask, but when we explain that it's just immediate family, they've been fine with it. I think that's the only way to do this without making people feel left out or angry.

red1115 · August 2010

Ideally you'll want to invite your entire guest list to both. It would be considered rude to exclude some of them from parts of the festivies. So in that case, you should look for another venue or reduce your guest list.

Now, if you are truely having a small, intimate ceremony you can just invite those near & dear only and then at a later date have a larger "celebration" - not a reception per say with a head table & bouqet toss, etc. but more of an informal house warming "Introducing Mr & Mrs. Smith" type party. I think that would be the most delicate way to handle things.

good luck

flutgrl1 · August 2010

Just have your BFFs and close family (parents siblings) !!!

Kristin789 · August 2010

Fewer and fewer people who get those "reception only" invitations are JUST SAYING NO, so it's unlikely that if you do this - which you really shouldn't - the rest of your guest list will just not come.

If they're not close enough nor good enough to witness your ceremony, which is supposed to be the REASON for this entire event, then they would just be invited to the reception TO BRING A GREAT GIFT to you. And that's greedy.

Family Only Ceremony

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