Invitations to Wedding Ceremony or Reception Only
In general, it is not acceptable to invite people to the wedding ceremony but not the party to follow. Some brides might think that it could be a way to trim reception costs, but it is actually quite insulting to those who do not make the cut for the reception. Think about how you would feel if you were told that you were welcome to send a wedding present, get all dressed up in your prettiest dress and festive Swarovski crystal bracelets, come to the ceremony, and then go home while some of the other guests got to attend a fabulous party. Like junior high all over again, right? This is why it is improper to invite some guests to attend the reception but not others.
There is one exception to the rule that some guests can be welcomed to the wedding ceremony but not the reception. In some church communities, it is customary to announce weddings in the church bulletin, with the understanding that any member of the congregation is free to attend. Some people just want to put on their best dress, and their Swarovski crystal earrings and necklaces and see a beautiful wedding, especially if the bride has grown up in that church. For this type of public invitation, there is no expectation of attending the private reception to follow, nor is the attendee obliged to give a wedding gift. The bride and groom would issue invitations to their immediate family and friends for the entire wedding, both ceremony and reception.
While it is not usually polite to invite a set of guests to your wedding ceremony but not the reception, the same is not true in reverse. It is considered proper to have a small wedding ceremony attended only by immediate family and friends, followed by a much larger reception, either the same day or at a later date. There can be many reasons to do it this way. Perhaps the bride and groom are members of a religion which only allows people of the same faith to attend a marriage ceremony or maybe they simply prefer to say their vows in front of a very small group of their nearest and dearest.
The thing to do in this case is to issue a formal invitation to the wedding reception, and for those select few whom you wish to have attend the ceremony as well, you also send a ceremony card. The ceremony card is about half the size of the main invitation, and is placed on top of the invitation as an enclosure before being stuffed in the envelopes. It is more common to see wedding invitations issued in the reverse form (a large invitation to the ceremony with a separate small card detailing the reception location), but this the reception invitation with ceremony card is absolutely the correct and proper form for a small ceremony with a large reception.
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