To start with our wedding is being held out of town, FI's family lives close to the venue, but my family all lives 2.5-3 hours away. Originally FI and I planned on having a small private ceremony inviting only immediate family (parents, siblings and grandparents). However my mom was not okay with it at all. She said that because my family is driving from out of town to go to the wedding they should be invited to the ceremony as well; there are like 10-20 people that she specifically thinks should be invited ( aunt and family, very close family friend, great aunt). I'm fine with inviting these people to the ceremony but I'm not okay telling FI's family that they cant come to the ceremony so we decided to invite everyone to the ceremony which we have both pretty much accepted.
The problem is our ceremony location is relatively small and we have to tell the venue how many people will be attending so they set up that many chairs. We are not doing a traditional RSVP but have planned on doing email or phone for older non tech savy relatives. So far I planned on saying
Please kindly reply by DATE with the
names of attendees.
Email myemail@gmail.com
Call 920.xxx.xxxx or 608.xxx.xxxx
How do I include that we need them to confirm if they are coming to the ceremony as well as the reception?