Problem with limited seating at ceremony!

Yes, it's still rude to exclude 80 of your guests from the ceremony, the most important part of the event. Your options are to find another venue, cut your guest list, or limit the ceremony to immediate family only and invite the rest of your guests to the reception.

Yes this is extremely rude. I would cut your guest list or find a new venue. The only time this isn’t rude is if you have a ceremony with parents, siblings, and grandparents only.

If I were part of the 80 people not invited to attend the ceremony, but was invited to the reception, I'd find that very rude. It's not like you're only inviting 20 family members to a private, intimate ceremony; you're considering inviting 2/3 of a large guest list and not the other third. I think this could cause a lot of hurt feelings, and personally, I wouldn't do it. I'd either cut the total guest list to 150 or find a new venue. It's not quite a "perfect venue" if using it means you'll risk offending a third of your guests. Can you have the ceremony in the reception space, since that holds nearly your entire guest list? I'm guessing you'll get some "it's your wedding -- you do YOU!" responses, but you asked for opinions and mine is that this is a bad idea. Sorry....

If I found out I was one of 80 people excluded from a large ceremony, I just wouldn't come at all. This is considered extremely rude. I'd cut your guest list to 150 or find a different venue.

It may be possible for us to get officially (legally) married in a registry office and then have a "blessing" in a larger part of the venue which could hold the 230. We are both Christians and so the most important part of our wedding day will be making a commitment before our friends, family and God. The legal side, however, does not need to be done in front of so many people so we could do that in a registry office a few days before?

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If you can fit your entire guest list in the space, why wouldn't you just get married there? I don't understand.

I haven't discussed it with the venue yet. Thanks for your advice. I will look into it. I have found it quite difficult to find venues that can hold venues for over 140 people so far, so I am feeling a bit stressed.

View Quoted Comment Totally agree with Kelly. Please do not do this.

Could you move the ceremony area to the reception area and just have one big area? I wouldn't probably even come if I was only invited to the reception and realized I wasn't invited to the ceremony as well. I wouldn't feel "special" unless I was invited to both. What happens if your ceremony lasts long and they show up while the ceremony is going on? That'd be super awkward. In short, yes, it's rude. Either invite the amount you can fit for both, adjust your guest list, or find a new venue.

Yes, it’s very rude to invite the majority of your large guest list and leave out a handful. People will understand if you are having an intimate ceremony, but you are not. Instead, from their perspective, you are having a first and second tier guest list. Please consider trimming your guest list or finding a venue that can accommodate everyone. I’m all for doing what you want for your wedding, but in this case people will be offended and no amount of explanation is going to change their viewpoint.