JP Etiquette

Re: JP Etiquette

• HisGirlFriday13 member

  

  March 2014

  You may have a reception as long as it's not billed as a wedding reception, you don't have any of the trappings of a wedding (no first dance or cake cutting or wearing a wedding dress.)
  
  If none of the trimmings are important to you, why have the reception at all?
  
  A reception is technically a thank-you for your guests for attending your wedding. No wedding means no reception, although a party to celebrate a recent marriage is acceptable.

  

  
  

  
  

  I'm gonna go with 'not my circus, not my monkeys.'

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• smalfrie19 member

  

  March 2014

  mdraper517 said:

  My fiance and I are wanting to do a JP wedding with just immediate family. Can we have a reception for friends and extended family? We're thinking small with light appetizers and cake. At the end of the day we just want to be married with very little fuss none of the trimmings are important to us. 

  As long as its JUST immediate family, they yes. And as long as during the reception you do not reenact any part of the ceremony and try and pass it off as the "real thing"

  

  
  

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• mdraper517 member

  

  March 2014

  Reception may be the wrong word. We would like to celebrate with the people who are important to us. We were thinking of sending out wedding announcements, much like you would have your maid of honor do after a traditional wedding to all those people you had to cut as guests but are still important to you. It would simply be a party announcing our marriage to our loved ones that go beyond our family since for the ceremony itself we only want our parents and our siblings with their spouses there. 

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• RebeccaB88 member

  

  March 2014

  Well, the MOH doesn't send out those announcements. The couple or their parents do. That's not within the scope of bridal party duties.
  
  But really, the best way to celebrate with people is to invite them to the main event. Anything else could be seen (but might not be) as a consolation prize.  If you don't want all the fanfare, then don't have it. Just get married quietly and go on about your lives. But a party after the fact is kind of fanfare, to me, anyway.
  
  It's perfectly acceptable to have a very low key event and still have more people there. You can get married at the JOP and then go out for lunch, or have dessert at your home after (you pay). Or ask the JOP to come to your home to marry you, then provide pizza, wine, and cake for everyone. Or elope, or have a quick DW with just your parents and siblings. There are lots of ways to get married without parties and stuff and still have the people you'd invite to the party with you. Or just have parents and siblings, cake after, and call it a day.
  

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• JellyBean52513 member

  

  March 2014 edited March 2014

  
  mdraper517 said: Reception may be the wrong word. We would like to celebrate with the people who are important to us. We were thinking of sending out wedding announcements, much like you would have your maid of honor do after a traditional wedding to all those people you had to cut as guests but are still important to you. It would simply be a party announcing our marriage to our loved ones that go beyond our family since for the ceremony itself we only want our parents and our siblings with their spouses there. 
   
  OP, why do you have to cut these people you want to celebrate with after the fact? Is it because you feel like you owe a celebration to certain people?
  
  If you want a truly private wedding, then that's perfectly ok. Nobody is entitled to a wedding invite or a marriage celebration. If you plan a party to hang out with your friends/family after you're married, that's totally fine. But if you're doing this because you think you owe these people some kind of event, then either consider including them on your wedding day and host a reception for them on that day, or proceed with your party plans and make sure everyone is hosted properly and you don't try to re-create your wedding day.

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• VerizonGirl member

  

  March 2014

  You have your small wedding, and immediately afterward, you host those people at your wedding reception to thank them for being your witnesses at your wedding.
  
  Sometime later you can have an open house or BBQ or something, but that wouldn't be a wedding reception or a wedding event.  You wouldn't want to give the impression that you didn't invite these people to be a part of the actual wedding but now you want to score great gifts from everyone you know...
  

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