Dilemmas of the day: where to have the reception and who to invite?
We are definitely having the ceremony at my church in Fullerton. The issue, however, is where to have the reception. The very simple solution would be to have it in the fellowship hall of my church. This is not very elegant, however, and I am not sure if we could have dancing there (still not actually sure if I WANT dancing to begin with). One possiblity we are entertaining is the Fullerton Arboretum (Hmm, just looked at the prices and time constraints on that one ... don't think it's going to happen.) On the other hand, we could also go with Jason's grandparents' suggestion and use the meeting facilities at Leisure World. They even have a caterer there. >:o) (no, we are not even considering this) Any other ideas?
Regarding guest lists: how do you choose who to invite? Immediate family and first-level uncles/aunts/cousins are the obvious invitees, as well as close friends. The problem arises with acquaintances or folks who used to be close friends but have since lost touch. Any suggestions? What about people who frequent my blog and/or invited me to their weddings? I'm at a loss when it comes to the propriety of all this. Should I just say: If you think you should be, or want to be, invited, let me know? I'm really at quite a loss regarding this.
4 comments:
It all depends on your budget. If you're working on a really tight budget, only invite your family and if there is some non-family who *you* would die if they didn't come, invite them. If they would die, then they can just die. Tight budget.
If you have a medium-sized budget, then invite family and good friends.
If you have enough money that it's not really an issue, then invite everyone. Invite relatives out to obscurity and random people you "know" from the internet and all sorts of stuff like that.
Remember, it's unlikely that everyone you invite will come, however long they are given to plan ahead and all. But then, you also have to take into account that any singles you invite may wish to bring significant others.
1. People like receptions to be close to the ceremony. Remember that.
2. Lots of people won't be able to make it. We ended up inviting about 250 and having about 200 attend. We first invited family and good friends, then one by one evaluated the acquaintances. I think I did invite people who invited me to their weddings.
If you're not serving a full meal, I say the more the merrier (and as a side benefit you get more gifts). I remember I had to (because my dad demanded it) invite my older sister's old babysitter, whom I had never met, because my dad wanted to see her. I thought it was weird, but I actually ended up with an expensive lamp from Pottery Barn, so it evened out. :)
3. I just remembered another piece of advice - if using children in your wedding, let them do their thing and then sit down with their parents. The last thing you want is for the flower girl to be running around and have all the attention on her instead of the sermon!
Good point #3, Jeri. I'll definitely keep that in mind!
Thanks everyone for all your tips and advice!
Personally, I would invite people that I actually want to be there. If I didn't care about someone being there, then I wouldn't care if they were offended about not being invited. I'm a jerk like that I suppose. We did have to invite some friends of parents, but I don't remember who they were and I don't remember what gifts they brought. Heck, I didn't even get all my Thank You cards out! I'm all about the company. I'll invite people to a party just to have them there, I don't care if they bring a gift or not (although it's nice).
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