Wedding Ceremony

While I do think this is common, I think it can also be extremely hurtful to those around you. My husband and I's family and friends would've been incredibly hurt only to be invited to the reception and not the actual ceremony. I know this because at one point we talked about having an immediate family only wedding followed by a large reception because where my husband wanted to have the ceremony couldn't accommodate everyone. Everyone objected to this idea.

Throw out the idea of "traditional wedding", courthouse weddings are very common and the romantic preference for many couples. I actually think yours is less an elopement and more like a small wedding since your baby will be in attendance. Should anyone press and huff and puff, assert that you wanted a "private ceremony, just your growing family", but plan to throw a bigger party to celebrate with everyone after.

That’s not weird at all. I attended a courthouse wedding once and the ceremony was nice with only close family members from both sides. The reception was at a nice beach. The couple was happy, I didn’t see any people who judged them at the courthouse and reception.