Small ceremony and big party!

That was one of the hardest things for us to find, somewhere that allowed us to bring in our own alcohol, we found the best luck with venues like community halls, where in a sense you are just renting a space and the rest is up to you

That does happen in some cases. We had friends who had a standard wedding but invited WAY more people to their reception as their package limited their number of guests for ceremony and dinner. No one seemed offended that they were only invited to the reception and were glad to be able to celebrate with the couple.

I think you could have separate invites for those invited to just the reception.

I would recommend doing the big reception/party at somewhere where you can bring in your own catering and alcohol. Doing things a little more casual can help to save costs. When you bring in your own alcohol you can save a few thousand of dollars (depending on how many drinks are served) and doing things more casual you are able to either pre-make or buy pre-made food. I have also seen where people do food trucks instead of catering as an option.

This is totally fair. It's just as simple as noting on your invitations that dinner will not be served, or only light refreshments will be, or whatever you're having. We are doing something similar.

Yeah that's fair! I think that will still be nice.

Yeah I totally hear you on that! With us we basically just had to break it to our parents. We do have the advantage that my FH both have small families but we told our parents we would only be having immediate family and 10 of our closest friends but we would be happy to extend the invite to others after.

What if you wait to do speeches and the dance and stuff after the dinner but before the party so that the others could be included in that?

I know I bought 2 sets of invites, one inviting to the ceremony and the dance and one inviting to the ceremony, reception and the dance. I am from Saskatchewan and this is common. In my opinion this is not rude, but rather a way to keep costs under control. We are also doing a toonie bar.

I was invited to a cousins wedding - reception and dance but not the ceremony and I found that a bit offensive, the ceremony is the important part , in my opinion.

Good Luck to you! It's your wedding and your choice!

Usually as you wouldn't serve a full sit down dinner (buffet/plated etc).

Our venue lets us bring in our own alcohol (with the purchasing of an alcohol permit). and they charge a service fee per guest (regardless of age). but included in that service fee is the bartenders, glasses, garnish, juice/mix, pop, napkins etc and taxes. Between that cost and the cost of the booze is $6000 (full open bar, extra booze than the amount the recommend, for 200 people).

if you were to go to something like a hall where you can bring in your own booze, mix and bartenders would probably help on the cost side (also the fact that booze is usually cheaper in Quebec than Ontario).

a friend to keep her wedding more affordable. Did an after dinner wedding. I want to say it was a 7pm ceremony. and then she served apps and had food stations.

Honestly, I don't think you are going to save all that much money scaling back on the ceremony but having a huge open bar reception. The dinner and reception is typically the most expensive part of the wedding, not the ceremony.

If you want to be able to have a lot of guests and do a great party, consider doing a cash or toonie bar and a buffet-style dinner instead of plated. Venue will make or break a significant portion of the budget as well.

Yes, I'm from Vancouver. And I used to bartend for weddings. Some venues allow you to bring your own alcohol (hall rentals, for example), but many don't. Some that make you buy their liquor do it by the bottle (almost none on the West Coast, but I hear it's more popular in Ontario). And many, many open bar options are just you paying a "host price" per drink that your venue provides.

Being able to select a venue based on the ability to bring in your own liquor will definitely be the most cost effective, but be prepared for that to be a type of venue where you bring in most of your own vendors for everything.

You also want to make sure you have at least 1 bartender for every 75 people, so if your guest list was going to be over 75 for the party portion, you'll definitely need 2 bartenders.

The original question if this is okay to do, it totally is. I agree with Clarissa, perhaps allow for everyone to be invited to the ceremony, have a break, and then invite everyone back for the party, with just a small group for dinner in between.