2 receptions???

[Brad's Bride in 08]

Okay..my FH has a lot of out of town family that he see's maybe once a year if that. Well all of his family from New York, Alaska, and North Carolina will be in for the wedding. We will have the ceremony at 4 in the evening then the reception will start promptly at 5 and end around 8, we will then go to our hotel room shower and change into comfy clothes and then we would go back to his parents house for a small get together of maybe 30 people with karoke, a few drinks, and just mingling and having fun. Does this sound okay for the people who we don't see much so we can spend time with them. It would only last until about 11 or midnight and then we would go back to our hotel and get some sleep and leave for our honeymoon the next morning. Of course everyone would be invited but I know a lot of my family and the elder people wouldn't come simply because it is late at night and they have kids and such. How would we announce this and does this seem okay?? We really want to do this because we feel like we should spend some time with them since they are traveling a long way for our big day.

[ladymelissa]

That sounds fine. How you choose to invite people is really up to you, or more specifically your, FILs. If you (also meaning the ILs) really want everyone invited you could include the after party info with your invitations. If you would prefer to keep it to the OOT guests, then they could personally phone the OOT family members and just say that they would like to have them over to the house after the reception. You could also have the DJ make an announcement toward the end of the reception saying that there will be an after party at IL's house.

Personally, I think I would choose having his parents just phone the people they intend to invite, b/c with the other ways you run the risk of having the after party get bigger than you are planning. But it is also up to his parents as they are the ones hosting the get together. It is also perfectly acceptable to just want to visit with family that lives far away, that you don't get to see very often.

[WebLady]

Melissa said pretty much everything I was thinking ;)

We were planning to have two receptions; our plan was one for the family and one more of a party for our friends. The family one ended up getting out of hand and we cancelled it.

[Brad's Bride in 08]

I just don't want to offend anyone...like the alcohol and such...I think what we will do is just get the DJ or his father to announce it at the end right before we leave...i'm not to sure yet.Thank you ladies!!