No reception after wedding invitation wording?

If you re inviting people to your wedding then you have to have some type of reception. No it does not have to involve fireworks, a banquet hall, sit down meals, and billions spent on flowers. If you can't afford cake, punch, nuts, some finger foods, and basic soft drinks then you don't invite people. Im not saying this to be rude as I was young, poor, and got married. Over 30 years ago we spent a total of $1000 dollars and that included everything...we had cake, punch, finger sandwiches, nuts, and punch not even name brand soda. If you can not afford to host your guests then elope. When you return you could schedule a wedding party at a later date, when money is available, to provide some lights snacks and beverages, or perhaps a BBQ.

If you're just having a ceremony, no invitations go out.

Send out an invite to the wedding only

This is what my fiancé and I are doing. I believe I will be putting church only on the invitations or something similar and I will be explaining to people before I even send them that we will not be having a reception. I suggested just doing cake and coffee after to my fiancé and he said in his culture that isn't acceptable we either had to do a reception or just do the church service with nothing after.

Best of Luck and Congratulations!

Forget what people are "knocking down" for ideas. It is YOUR wedding and YOU get to decide to do what YOU want. (You meaning yourself and your FH.)

Seriously if you go around asking for opinions or take people's opinions to heart, you'll never get anything planned, because everyone has their own ideas for what they like. Don't listen to them. Ask questions of a very, very, very small group of people if you must.

If funds are tight, do what everyone is saying and just have punch and cookie afterwards, or hours d'vours after. You don't have to do a full out ceremony, but like people are saying, it's rude to invite people to a wedding and have nothing after. A reception is to thank your guests for coming, not just to dance and have fun.

Or like others have said, elope. Then you don't have to worry about any of it.

Every situation is different. This is my FH and my second marriage. We have way to much close family and close friends (60 to 70) that out of love for us want to see us get married. Many of them have said not to have a reception. For people to say the ceremony is just for the bride and groom is wrong. If the people you are inviting truly love you then the ceremony of seeing your vows is more important then getting fed. We can afford a reception but between the 2 of us we have 5 kids and other obligations to be spending a couple thousand on a reception. But if I just didn’t invite them to any of it they would be upset. Most people are that shallow to be upset you didn’t feed. Btw I’m also not asking for gifts.

Have a cake cutting right after the ceremony at the church. Bring in tall bar tables for everyone to mingle, no chairs. Music playing in the background. This gives opportunity for you to take the wedding pics and tell everyone thank you for coming as well. You don't need a huge reception. Having something small and intimate is always best. After all it's your wedding, make it yours!

View Quoted Comment This is perfect 👌

Hi Ashley. I too want to have a ceremony only wedding and no reception after, I’m still working on how to properly word this on my invitation. But I do know that after our church ceremony I want to have cupcakes, wine, and some thank you gifts for people to take home as they leave the ceremony. 😍

You must have a reception of some sort afterwards. Otherwise go elope with zero guests. Cake and punch/coffee is super inexpensive and is the minimum you are required to have.

I realize that this is an old question now, but it is quite ironic considering the current status of our world. It seems that ceremony w/o reception are the result in many couples wedding plans, regardless of reasoning being money, safety, or just YOUR personal wedding design. I am sorry that the responses had to say you are "rude" because that was NOT your initial question. I hope your wedding was a dream, however you chose to have it. If you are someone seeking advice on wording, I too was in that boat. We are deciding to word ours as " . . . invited to the marriage ceremony of . . ." or a statement regarding a "brief distanced social to follow." We did choose to do pre-packaged cupcakes BUT is not necessary. As a guest, my view would be to show my love and support towards the couple without expectation of receiving anything back. Sending a thank you card later is sufficient in my opinion as well.