Uninvited Family Members Want To Attend Ceremony ONLY

A wedding is not a reunion. NOPE.

I don't know about you but I would need to rent extra chairs so no.

Oh and I would tell the Aunt "There is a reason why we did not invite them...so no they cannot just show up..."

"Sorry, that won't be possible. Our venue cannot hold those people for the ceremony." And then hang up.

No no no no no. They are being very rude by inviting themselves, first of all. Second of all, they may say they're only going to the ceremony, but try to sneak into the reception. Third of all, you DO NOT need that stress on your big day.

Fourth of all, you should totes let vendors comment on your posts. They know a lot about weddings and they aren't allowed to advertise on the forums anyway. They just wanna help!

Ahhh, Hell to the No!

I'd say no. That it's too late in the ceremony space to accommodate additional guests.

"Sorry Aunt Ginger, our venue only holds 150 people, we can not have anyone else attend."

What I would really want to say is " Sorry Aunt Ginger, we don't have room for rude ass people that want to invite themselves when we haven't seen them in 3 years. Bye,"

Our church is one of those little one room old school churches, I would literally have to say no because there wouldn't be enough seats if I didn't and I'm not having my close family and friends stand during the wedding.

If you have plenty of seating at your venue that is free to you and not being used, I would allow them to come. It's rude to stage your guests but in this case your guests are choosing to only come to one event.

This is crass and rude. Who invites themselves to somebody else's wedding ceremony?

"I'm sorry, but we are unable to accommodate everyone we would like to have with us on our wedding day. We will leave it with you to handle notifying everyone."

No - I'd be concerned they would tag along for the reception. Give an inch and they may take a mile.

Years ago the ceremony was considered a public event and would even be published in news papers because if anyone wanted to protest the nuptials they could. If your church could fit them in and it only was the ceremony and not the reception I don't see a big deal in it.

I agree with PP is be worried that they would try to tag along to the reception

Thanks for the quick responses everyone. The ceremony and reception are in different locations. Ceremony is at our local church (big enough for more than 1,000 people).

Nope! They will probably try to go to the reception too! Which you don't have room for extra people. And you don't want to have to ask them to leave the reception.

Fiance needs to first talk with his mom or dad, depending on whose side of the family these people are on. Where I live, many houses of religion are open to all. Someone has to explain t the aunt that there is ABSOLUTELY no room at the reception. I am hoping the aunt is not the type who says, well I heard that uncle Joe is not coming, that is one more sport available. Even if people cancel, no one else gets to self invite.

The church is likely a public place. You really can't bar them from that, bit that doesn't mean you need to host them at the reception. Ask the coordinator to have a checklist and stick to it for the reception.