reception

[Angel]

In the community i live in the trendiest thing for a reception is to invite all your family and a few close friends to the ceremony and then have a dinner for them, but after that is over invite more friends to a reception with hors d'oeuvers and cake and dance. Is this ok, would anyone be offended if they only got invited to the reception and not the ceremony too? my soon to be mother in law informed her son she thinks it's tacky. help
angel

[Can't Wait!]

I am not a fan of only being invited to the reception, if you have the ceremony locally. I see the reception as a way for your family/friends to help you celebrate your marriage. If they did not witness the marriage, then they wouldn't be too excited to help you celebrate, it would be just a party. It could be portrayed as inconsiderate. If you had a destination wedding, or eloped, then a party upon your return is fine.

[swelch]

Very tacky. Why don't you have a big spaghetti feed behind the Barn.

[edamanskis]

Usually people think it's rude to show up to the reception without attending the ceremony (which I've seen people do).

The ceremony is the cheap part...it doesn't cost you to have people watch you exchange vows. The reception is the expense, so if they are invited to the reception, why not the ceremony?

If you can't afford a sit-down dinner for all guests, plan the hors d'oeuvres and cake reception as the big one (and only one). You can alter the time of day to suit your needs.