Small Ceremony and Big Party advice..?

[Gmex31]

We are having a very small, short, ceremony with just Mums/Dads/Brothers/Sisters.
We then plan to have a party for around 140 guests, more of a party then a reception, with a DJ, buffet style food etc.

Just struggling with a few things -

*How to word the invites to guests? (We've made a website so invites will be emailed).
We want to make it clear to our guests that its more of a party to celebrate than a reception sit down meal etc. So they don't expect a big 3 course meal...

*Dress code?
Although it is a party, it would be nice if guests still came slightly formal, frocks/suits, to make it more special. But how do you tell people what to wear, without actually telling them what to wear....

*What time to start the party?
Our ceremony starts at 3pm and have been told it will be no more than 30 mins long. The party is in the same venue as the ceremony. We don't want to start the party too late (7pm), as it'll just feel like a night do, so what time is best, so that it doesn't feel too early..?

Any advice would be much appreciated!! xx

Hmm. Tricky. I think if I were invited to a party starting in the afternoon, then I would probably be expecting my "tea" (or dinner as some parts of the country like to call it ) there.

Is there a possibility of having the ceremony later ?

I was going to say 7pm, but see you say that is too late.

The wording depends on what you end up doing. Dress code is helpful on an invitation - how to word it depends on the formality of the invitation...... If you are going for "X and Y request the pleasure of the company of A and B on date / time / place to celebrate the marriage of ....." Then just a formal "Dress Code is lounge suits and cocktail dresses" is fine.
If you are going less formal with the other wording, then a "dress to impress" type expression works better.

If the buffet style food is enough to properly feed people in the evening I’d somehow word it like

“X and X request the pleasure of your company for our wedding party at 4.30pm on xx date. Dress code is formal party wear and food will be served in the evening” ?

Could you invite people to arrive for drinks at 6 and party starts at 7?

Can you do speeches or something after the ceremony but before the do? Photos till 4.00. So guests could arrive earlier to formally toast you with just drinks and then the party?

What do you mean by “buffet type food”?

If you mean dinner that will be served buffet style, fine. If you mean there will be a few bowls of crisps and maybe some cake then you probably need to start quite a bit later than 7 and you need to make it clear to people that you are not providing a meal and they will need to eat dinner somewhere else beforehand.

Not sure what you mean by “it’ll just feel like a night do”. If you’re not feeding people then that’s exactly what it is.

We had a similar small wedding, same type of guests, but we had a meal afterwards, then an evening reception.

Perhaps you could have welcome drinks and canapés and photos at five, then an evening reception at seven (because basically you are having an evening do!). I made sure my evening buffet was superbe - people had travelled a long way so I wanted a big variation of choices and a substantial amount of hot and cold food.