Wedding question!?!?! Is it appropriate to invite guests to the wedding ceremony and reception and?

Question

not to dinner? we are looking to have just a small dinner with family and close friends - we are on a tight budget for this as we are paying for everything ourselves. so would it be alright to invite everyone do the wedding and reception and just close members to the dinner? thanks!!!

Answer 1

Wait. I am confused. There is HOW many hours between your wedding and the reception?

What in the world are the people who are not invited to the dinner going to do during the lag time?

Hopefully everyone lives in the area and can just go home.

I would be pissed if I drove an hour to the wedding and then had to figure out what to do in a town that I know nothing about for 5 hours. I certainly wouldn't drive an hour home!

Why are you having a dinner in between the wedding and the ceremony???

Answer 2

Do what you want it's your day.  If it's that small then the people who are invited to the dinner u can verbally inform.  make invites for those that u want to attend the wedding and reception specifying the times and break in between.  It's not that big of a deal.  Remember, IT'S YOUR DAY!!!

Answer 3

I would recommend having the wedding at noon, the reception with snacks immediately after, then your dinner with friends and family that evening.  That way, you don't have guests waiting for 5 or 6 hours for your reception to start.

You might want to check with the location you're getting married at.  If it's a church, (especially if it's your church) the reception might be able to be held there, especially since your not catering it.  That way, the wedding and reception will be done with a minimal of fuss for your guests, and everything will be a lot easier for you.

Congratulations!

Answer 4

ahhh i have to disagree i dont think that would go over too well hey come join us for our wedding at noon go home do what you have to do come back in the evening for the party? im not trying to sound mean but i dont think that will fly most people arent going to want to go out to your wedding be excussed then come back later thats just a nusiance my suggestions would be to either have the ceromony a short recepion of hourdoves maybe finger sandwishes then when evryone leaves go out to dinner with your family or maybe have pot luck and evryone brings a dish yes some people think its corney but it works for others or my last suggestion would be to maybe take your family out the night before or week before to celbrate and then provide some sort of inexpensive meal for all your guests usally spaghetti and chicken parm with a side sald  is cheap and easy and that why your guests dont feel like their getting shafted by being asked to share  this day with you bring you a gift but their not good enough for a meal and i know that sounds bad and i completly understand where your comming from weddings are expensive i know we planned our own too bottom line is you will probably spend more in party favors center peieces ect then you will get in return for a gift but thats just one of the things you have to face if want this day to be special surounded by friends and family who love you sorry if i sound harsh i dont mean to....i wish you luck and i hope you come to some sort of arangement that makes you happy because this will be a day that you will remember and treasure forever congratulations!

Answer 5

No- you can't send people away for several hours and expect them to come back for the part of the celebration that they are invited to. Either everyone comes for dinner, or everyone comes to the reception- you can't have a side celebration in the middle of the day for a portion of the guests. How will you explain to people where you're going for the next five hours? Also, you can't have a reception start at 6PM and not feed people. At that hour, they are going to expect dinner.

The other solution would be to only have a small group at the ceremony, have a meal with those people, and then later that night have a cocktail party reception for everyone else.

Answer 6

A little dicey, but make sure its much later than the reception and in a different location.  Realize you might offend some guests if they hear your family talking about not filling up at the reception so they can enjoy the dinner later.

Answer 7

I think that would be ok, as long as your reception doesn't fall in a mealtime. Also, try not to make a big show out of it, nobody has to know that there is a dinner afterward. ANd if they find out and wonder why they're not invited, just tell them that you want to spend a little extra time with family and close friends. Good luck

Answer 8

Generally, spacing out the wedding and reception like that is a real pain. The guests have to go to the wedding, go home, stay dressed, then come back to the reception...and if some of them have to drive a distance, they have to loiter around somewhere and kill time.

If you hire a photographer, he's not going to want to have that much of a space between the wedding and reception. I do weddings and if someone does that, I charge for the empty hours I have to wait.

All in all, it's a bad idea. Either have the wedding and reception at the same time, THEN do the dinner later in the evening when everyone is gone....or have the dinner the next day.

At the least you are going to be frazzled trying to keep up with everything...at the worst, there are going to be a lot of pissed off people.

Answer 9

yeah

im purdy sure it would b

Answer 10

yea im pretty sure that would be ok, thats how my family did it

Answer 11

How can you have a reception without food? Would it just be music??

I think that people would feel honored to be invited to the ceremony but a reception without food would seem weird.

Answer 12

This would be okay if your ceremony is in the morning or early afternoon & you are having a light reception that will only last for an hour or two.  You will need to state "light/cocktail/cake reception" to follow so guests don't expect a full meal.  

Wedding ceremonies starting at 4 pm or later, guests will probably expect a meal.

Answer 13

Yes it is fine to do that! If it's your family and close friends then the other ppl should understand:). Have a very wonderful wedding:)

Answer 14

Personally, I don't think it is appropriate. If you were having the ceremony, the reception and then the dinner after it wouldn't be so bad. However, you are putting the family only dinner in between the ceremony and the reception. One thing that stands out to me is - what are your other guests going to do while you and your family are having dinner (especially if you are having out of town guests who may not know the area)?

Answer 15

-You should have the reception right after the ceremony, instead of the big break in between.  Also, the small intimate dinner with your family and close friends may last longer than expected.

-Generally, people will expect some sort of dinner at the time you are thinking about.

-You could just serve light snacks and cake in the early afternoon right after your ceremony.

-Hope that helps. Best wishes!

Answer 16

No. Then just cut your guest list way down - and invite everyone to  the ceremony, dinner, and dance.

Answer 17

Hi,

We invited our family and closest friends to the wedding and dinner. We had our music start at 7:30. We invited another whole group to celebrate with us after the music started. It worked out perfectly and I don't know of anyone who was offended. It seems to be becoming more of the norm these days.

I hope this helps!

Have a great wedding and many happy years!!

Answer 18

I think that this is a poor choice.  It would be more appropriate to have a reception with snacks immediately after the wedding.  Then have a small dinner later with family and close friends.   It seems inappropriate to have people come back hours later for a reception where they will just be fed snacks.

However, if you are having this wedding during a weekday, assuming that most people can't attend the wedding, but that you still want to celebrate later, then that would be fine.  Just put down 'appetizer reception."

Answer 19

Sounds ok but you may not have as big of a turnout at either the wedding or the reception because people are not going to wait around all day.  Have you looked into a buffet style dinner to have at the reception?  Also you could do all finger foods at the reception (small sandwiches, vegetable tray, fruit tray, dips, etc) and ask some close family members to help make things.  I would suggest not spreading out the wedding and reception that much.  Plus any out of town guests that may not be included in the close family may not have anything to do during that 5 hours of down time.

Here is an idea...  Have a lunch for close family at noon and then your wedding at 3 or 4 pm and have a reception starting at 6 with just the snack foods and cake or Have your wedding at noon, cake and punch reception following that and then at about 6 have a dinner for close family members before you leave for your honeymoon or whatever.  Just some ideas!

Answer 20

you can do a ceremony and an appetizer and cake only reception but its genrally a bit shorter and not at a meal time.  you also need to make it clear on the invite sp poeple eat before hand.  then after you can do a family dinner.

Answer 21

If you have the reception around 6, you need to serve a dinner - that's right at everyone's meal time! Your guests are going to be really put out and hungry otherwise.

My advice would be to have the ceremony, then the appetizers reception immediately after the ceremony. Once the reception ends, you can gather your pre-determined group and go to dinner together. 4/4:30 is a great time for a "light fare" reception, 6 is not.