Ceremony only- reception later at home

I think it really depends how far “ out of town“ is for your guests. are we talking a 10 minute drive? Or hours? if it is a short 10-20 min drive for your guests, I don’t see why you couldn’t do ceremony only out of town (although, it would be customary to at least have cake and punch service). However, if it is a long distance for your guests, it would not be considered good etiquette to have ceremony only. It would be asking a lot of your guests to drive a far distance for a 20 minute ceremony, and not be properly hosted with a meal, etc.

View Quoted Comment Yes I agree. I wanted to do cake and maybe a brunch or plan a dinner that we would pay for. But didn’t want to go all out if we plan to do one back home.

View Quoted Comment So would the location of your ceremony be a far drive for your guests? Would it require them staying the night somewhere? Or is this just a quick little drive?

View Quoted Comment Yea it’s far, we would have to fly.. I was wondering are there any places that accommodate what I wanted to do. Like cake after ceremony then maybe finger food and open bar..

View Quoted Comment Yikes. Unfortunately, if you are requiring guests to fly, etiquette dictates that you provide a full meal for your guests in order to properly thank them for the time and money they have invested in going to your wedding. Cake and punch receptions are for local weddings, or ones that do not require extensive travel. Destinations weddings actually require a much higher level of hosting than local weddings do, because they place a lot more burden on your guests. Typically, with destination weddings, you have a full reception with meal & open bar; and most people also host either a welcome dinner or a farewell/thank you brunch in addition.

Also, you do not have to have a traditional “reception” for a destination wedding (ie, rent out a reception venue, have a DJ or other entertainment, etc.). You could simply rent out a room at a restaurant and pay for everyone’s meals & drinks there.

View Quoted Comment Thank you!

If you have guests at your ceremony then you need to host them afterwards with some sort of food and drink appropriate to the time of day. That is a reception, as in you are receiving your guests and thanking them for attending. You can have another reception in another location another day, but you still need to host your ceremony guests on the day of your ceremony as well.

View Quoted Comment Thanks I am now. I found a venue that can accommodate what I wanted to do without going over budget.