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We're Answering Wedding Questions



I have decided to occasionally start answering wedding questions that you might have.


Keep in mind that wedding etiquette of the past has changed a lot and there are very few standards of what is right or wrong because of how family structures are different these days.

Ask Your Wedding Question Read Other Questions & Answers



Here's an Example



I wonder if you can help with a dilemma. We were hoping to be able to invite everyone to the wedding ceremony and a "celebration" after dinner, but not invite everyone to the dinner to reduce cost. Is it tacky to have an intimate dinner between the ceremony and "celebration". I hesitate to use the word "reception" because apparently it gives the assumption that a dinner will be included. What are your thoughts on this situation? I can't find anything on this and don't want to be looked badly upon because of a decision we make.


Traditionally everyone who is invited to the wedding ceremony is supposed to be invited to the reception. (At the same time "traditionally" the brides parents are supposed to pay for the entire wedding which rarely happens these days.) When answering wedding questions, I believe that whatever the bride wants she gets as long as it's done tastefully.

What you can do is have a standard invitation that invites everyone to the ceremony and a "fellowship" to follow. This fellowship/celebration could be held at the church hall and be just finger foods and desserts. You could have your receiving line here and mingle/thank guests for attending your wedding.

You could send a VIP invite for a special reception to your close family and friends. You want to include VIP on the invite and send it separately from the ceremony and fellowship invitation so that
  1. Your VIP guests understand that this reception is only for certain guests.

  2. Only your VIP guests get the address, time and map for this special reception.

  3. You don't accidentally send the special reception information to anyone that is not invited.

I must warn you that everyone may not agree with my advice, but the nature of weddings has changed so much that new approaches to varying situations need to be made.


Do you have a wedding question?

I am now answering wedding related questions on a very limited basis. You should read previously asked questions first, to make sure that there isn't already an answer to the question that you would like to ask.

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