Open wedding closed reception

by Heather

Question... what do you do if you want to have an open wedding but closed reception. For example, a friend of mine is sending invites to the wedding but has sent an invite to her church. She is having a buffet type meal and needs to know RSVPs for the reception. She can't send an RSVP to the church so how do you handle this with proper etiquette?


Well everyone invited to the wedding should be invited to the reception. But if you would like to invite people just to the wedding ceremony then your invitation should state that Your presence is requested at the marriage ceremony of . . .

This states exactly to which event your guest is invited. Now here is the sticky part. You could send an additional invite to close family and friends to a private reception.

You need to understand that in doing this some people not invited to the reception may have their feelings hurt. You may even need to have a guest list at the door so that only invited guests are allowed to your reception. However if you are doing this so that you can invite church family (people to whom you may not necessarily have a relationship) then it may be fine.