Etiquette for Destination Wedding/Hosting Reception upon return

Only send save the dates to the people who are invited to the ceremony, you can how ever send a seperate save the date for those invited to the reception at the later date.

And I'm not sure I understand your second question? Are you wondeirng if you send an invite to teh ceremony to people you know won't come? Only send invites to the people you want to com and are invited. Hope that helps

We're getting married in June, but due to our schedules and FH's ex-wife's schedule (which deals with the kids) we're not having our "at home" reception until September. I'm sending out STDs for the reception to everyone. We only have about 20 of us going to Dominican Republic and around 100 for the Reception in PA.

We're having a destination wedding in Cape Town, South Africa in August, and then we'll have a reception for everyone who couldn't make it in September in Indiana. We're thinking about sending a marriage announcement with a picture from the destination wedding along with the STD for the local reception.

Sorry F Mrs. Schmidt, it wasn't very clear.

I was wondering for those guests we want to invite to the reception only (not the wedding) do they need to know any other details?

Is it proper to state somehow we had a private small ceremony and that is why the invite is only for a reception?

Bright Eyes- That is a great idea! However since our reception is within a month or so from the wedding, I don't know if that is enough time for people to be able to RSVP and be able to make it!

Well, I don't think there's anything wrong with a wedding announcement, maybe with a picture? Everyone here will basically know where we'll be getting married, so it may be superfluous, but I don't personally think a wedding announcement (after the fact) is a bad idea.

Sorry haha didn't see your last post. Well, how many are you having at the local reception? Maybe mention something in your invitation? And then have pictures of your ceremony at the local reception? That's what we're doing lol. BTW, where in Indiana are you?

Thanks for the ideas. This is really helping. We will be hosting our reception in Bloomington Indiana! Currently we live a little south of there, but both my fiance and I lived there for about 10 years!

My STDs say "Please join Scott and Jenn to celebrate their marriage."

We're going to have a projector and big screen up to show the wedding and pics from our wedding trip. I don't think anyone should be offended. My MOH went with only her and her DH's families to Cancun for their wedding. None of their friends went.

I think you should definitely send STDs along those lines because a month really isn't enough notice.

Keely, I live in South Bend. I've lived here about 10 years as well, and I'm originally from South Africa (hence the destination wedding - so my massive family can see me!). It's nice to know there are more Indiana people on here lol.

I think the projector idea is great. I wanted to do a slide show at the reception as well.

You send out STD's and ceremony invitations only to those people who you wish to attend the ceremony (destination). If the reception is to be local, there really is no need to send out STD's, unless the date is on a holiday. You would then send out a wedding announcement to everyone you wish to attend the reception. Something along the line

I'm not sure what happened.

Bride's name

and

Groom's name

are thrilled to announce they were married

on February 11, 2011, in Someplace, Forida!

Please join us for an evening of celebration

March 11, 2011

Party Place

Bloomington, Indiana

RSVP: Information here

You can make it as formal or informal as you like.

Michele, we were discussing if 1 month was long enough notice for the announcement/invite for the reception.

A good amount of my friends do live in Indiana but a few live out of state.

I could always just send the wedding announcement/reception out and plan it 2 months after we return since nothing has officially been booked. That may be the best bet.

I really want to have a number for the reception, although we should just play it safe and expect the majority of people to come.

Is that what most couples do? Is there a rule that states you should just assume 75%-100% of those invited will come?

Only give the details of the event the are invited too.

Thanks everyone! This forum is fantastic for seeking out advice! I appreciate all the help!

Just to add to what Michele suggests, we're having a DW and sending out announcements in mid to late June, which will include inserts inviting people to a late September reception in around where my parents live in Missouri. We're doing an insert since we're not inviting everyone to that reception; some people are just getting an announcement.

Since the announcements will have a link to the wedding website for photo viewing, I'll be taking down all the logistical stuff that is up currently for people attending the ceremony before we send them out--that way no one feels excluded looking at hotel info and driving directions that don't apply to them!

My daughter's wedding is in Hawaii and because we NEED an accurate head count to plan the party after their return I guess we will be going against etiquette (though "etiquette" seems to change as often as we change our underwear). Many of the guests that will be coming to the party after will need to fly in or otherwise make arrangements for a trip, and a month is not enough time with plane fares in the summer always being high so we are sending Save the Date's (I just hate using the term STD's LOL) to those people also. I truly believe that almost anything goes as long as you are tasteful. People are so spread out, and so over-scheduled so they need time to plan. I think it just depends on your particular circumstances. Ours are worded like this:

Becca and Adam are flying off to Hawaii to get married,

but they don’t want to miss out on celebrating

with you. Please mark your calendars and

Save the Date

to join us for a celebration following

Becca & Adam’s Wedding, date, etc

What we did was we sent std to everyone invited to the wedding and sent a invite to every one with a little invite to the party back home and for people we r inviting to the party not the wedding fmil bought some really cute beach sence and it says something like a invite but it says come celebrate r marriage we r getting married on june 5 and having the party on june 19