Greek Wedding Favors

Wedding reception?

We are having a public wedding but a private by invitation only dinner reception. How can that be worded on the invitation?

Public Comments

1. It will seem very tacky, let me just tell you. Because most people do not want to travel far away for a wedding, get all dolled up and then not even be invited to the reception. I would not recommend this at all. I say you only invite the dinner reception folks to the ceremony.
2. I agree with Delilah..
3. Have 2 sets of invitations. Just keep track of who gets which invitation.
4. I agree with the first response. It would be very rude to invite people to the wedding ceremony but not the reception. It's like saying, "Hey, come to our wedding and give us presents, but we don't really want you to celebrate with us." It doesn't matter if that's the message you're trying to send or not. Many people will take it that way.
5. Have those with invitations sent to RSVP for the reception and let them know they must show their invitation to enter. And if you are letting everyone in the wedding and announcing it in the paper make sure it states that the reception is by invitation only. This way if someone gets you a gift that is not invited they can give it to either of your parents when leaving the church. Example: Reception by invitation only. Please RSVP with number coming by month day, year. Please bring your invitation to get in.
6. Since Im getting married in a few weeks i also ran into this problem. We had over 200 people to invite but the reception hall only holds 120. Unfortunately we had to cut alot of people out. We are NOT inviting those people to the church, because no one wants to get dressed up, sit in a church,w atch the wedding and then basically be shuffled home while other people got dinner invties. It is really tacky, and I think the only way around it just not inviting htose people all together. A couple that we know had a small coffee and dessert party at the church hall for everyone that was there....that way they could invite everyone they wanted. Then they sent out private invitations to a dinner party afterwards for close family. Maybe you can try something like that. Good luck ;)
7. A FOOT NOTE READING ' DINNER INVITAION IS SEPRATELY SENT.KINDLY IGNORE THIS IF NOT SO RECEIVED'
8. Would be rude to invite guests to the wedding but not the reception.
9. Thats actually pretty rude...most people have it the other way around....(if they separate at all)... I guess if thats how you really want to do it... send out separate invitations... send a ceremony/wedding invitation to everyone and then send out invitations to the "dinner" completely separate. I would work it as a "dinner" and not a "reception" because word will get around to those only invited to the ceremony and it will seem less tacky if its a "dinner" rather than a "reception"... dont mention anything about a reception or dinner on the ceremony invitation... the people who arent invited to the reception may just assume that there isnt going to be one But please reconsider... or possibly only invite those who will be at the dinner reception and don't make the wedding "public" Good luck!
10. What do you mean by a "public wedding"? Just random people show up? Than only send out an invite to the people for the reception. It is very rude to only invite certain people to the reception. If you are on a tight budget than just DON'T invite the people you wouldn't want at your reception. We all know it can be hard picking between people, but sometimes it is necessary.
11. It's OK to invite people to the reception who were not invited to the ceremony, but it's not OK to invite people to the ceremony but not to the reception. It can't be worded on the invitation. Don't do it.
12. Are you having your wedding and reception in two different locations? If so you will need to send out 2 different sets of invitations. Just create 2 lists. One for ceremony only and the other for ceremony & reception. For the ceremony only folks just send them the wedding invite with the ceremony location and omit any reception info or any footnote "reception to immediately follow". No need to ask for an rsvp since you only want them to come to the wedding itself anyway. The second group you can send them all of the info for the wedding and your reception information with an rsvp card. This is the group you will want to know who's attending and who's not for your food and beverage purposes. If you are having your wedding and reception in the same place then you will want to have a list of all invited reception guests. This is the time you will definately need to do placecards. Any guest not having a card will need to have there name checked to see if they were really invited to the reception. It's a sticky situation but it can be done, it's just easier if you have a location change for the ceremony and reception. I've done a wedding like this before, it worked out well. The ceremony took place in a church, the reception took place a at nearby hall. Reception site only held 80 people and the bride had co-workers she wanted to invite to the wedding. So most of the wedding only guests were co-workers and acquiantences where as the reception was for family and very close friends. Good Luck and Congratulations
13. You don't mention it on the invitation at all; there is no polite way to tell people that you are giving a party to which they are not invited. Read my answer to the reverse question (private ceremony, big reception) and do the reverse. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AulVyOgzQ7GgjTS.HqOGptjsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071016233607AAW3rkj&show=7#profile-info-NRsPpCAvaa Send invitations to the ceremony to all and sundry. For those whom you'd like to include in the post-ceremony celebration, enclose a small recpetion card, something like: To be followed by a small supper at Six O'Clock at Happy Harvest Hall 2468 Rough Road Townsville
14. Ok, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt here. I'll assume that public wedding means that you're inviting all of your friends, relatives, neighbors etc.... and that your dinner reception is only for a small, intimate select few people - say you're inviting 200 people to the wedding but only having 25 for the dinner. If something like that is the case then this is what I would do. Have your wedding at 3 or 4 in the afternoon and have a reception of cake, punch, light finger foods in the church reception hall. You can get away from that after about 2 hours. Then go on to you dinner. In the invitations put that a reception is following the service in the fellowship hall. In the select invitations send the special dinner invitations. I'm also assuming that the people who are invited to the dinner are close to you so you can let them know that not everybody is being invited and not to go and blab about the dinner to the other guests. If none of the above is correct then then it is terribly rude to expect people to come to your wedding and not get an invitation to partake of some sort of refreshments afterward.
15. Hi and congratulations on your upcoming wedding! Sorry....but you have this wrong...it's only correct if you do the reverse. Everyone invited to the wedding needs to be invited to the reception. You CAN have a private ceremony and large reception...but not in the reverse.
16. I would agree with the two separate invitations. Be aware though that there may be some hurt feelings for those who are not invited. Usually if you go to someone's wedding, you are invited to their reception. Best of luck with this!
17. You don't. It's totally rude. You invite the same people to the ceremony AND reception.
18. It isn't tacky it is done quite often. You simply have a separate card similar to a response card which includes the reception information. Don't print on the invitation anything that says "by invitation only" or "reception to follow" or similar wording. That would be tacky. Use a separate reception invitation card to be included with your invitation to those that you want to invite to the reception. People are under the assumption that being invited to a wedding and therefore reception is a "free party" . Weddings are celebrations of the commitment and uniting of two people who love each other. We attend weddings to witness their union not to party afterward and be plied with liquor at the expense of the host.