FI and I live in a very rural area and for weddings the norm is an evening ceremony followed by a dinner reception with a DJ and dancing. Neither of us was thrilled about the idea of a DJ and dancing, we are not really party people plus the expense of the DJ would take away from guest we want to invite.
I came across the idea of having an 11am ceremony followed by a brunch reception online and liked the idea. I showed it to FI and he liked it as well. No one we know of has had this type of wedding nor have we heard of anyone do I g this in our area. So we brought it up to my mom and FMIL and they loved it.
So what we are thinking is having the ceremony at 11am followed by a mock cocktail hour with fruit and veggie trays and breakfast breads and juice and coffee while we do pictures and then having a brunch buffet and setting up yard games outside for those who want to do those. The ceremony and reception would be at the same venue. We want it to be casual and just a socializing event without alcohol or a DJ/dancing which is more to our personalities. We also find it more important to invite all our families and friends over cutting the guest list to have alcohol and a DJ. Has anyone else done something like this that can offer some advice? I also want to make sure etiquette wise we are not making mistakes since this is different for our area and so we are learning as we go.