Invite to evening only

[BeTaupeBear]

Not my wedding but a friends wedding.
They have a huge family lots of cousins who have long term partners and children.

The places they like are quite pricey per head so they’re considering inviting local cousins to the evening only unless part of the wedding party ie a bridesmaid.
Then for family travelling further away they could come all day.

Whats peoples thoughts on this? Is this a reasonable thing to do?

I think that’s fine - I have been an evening guest and wasn’t upset. Some people complain though

I had evening guests at mine. It was expensive so we kept the day to family only plus one or two very very close friends on both sides. The rest were evening guests. Nobody grumbled to me when I explained our reasoning.
I think it might be slightly tricky when doing it with family though and saying some are welcome for the whole day and others aren’t just because they live close.

It's pretty uncontroversial, apart from on Mn. People will generally only attend the evening if they're local, though. I don't think someone would realistically travel the length of the country for an evening invitation.

We had evening guests, but they were colleagues, acquaintances from hobby groups etc. Evening guests are usually people you are not as close to. All of our family were there for the whole day, including cousins - it's a family event and they were all able to catch up with each other, too.

Ultimately I think it depends if the couple/ rest of the family are close to the cousins. If they are, it's a bit unfair that they miss out on the day just because they live nearby.

'You only live round the corner so you can just come for the evening' feels a bit off to me. It should be more to do with the relationship than where they live.

If they have a good relationship and actually talk/ see each other, I would consider going with a less expensive venue so that they can come.

If they never see each other/ don't talk much then yes, an evening invite is fine.

They see each other a few times a year not particularly close

I'd say a blood relative you see a few times a year is close enough for a daytime invite. Between me and DH, we have quite a few cousins we see a few times a year, and didn't even consider that we wouldn't invite them to the whole day.

They're blood relatives and part of the family, so I suppose the way we saw it was a family event they would be included in.

Everyone is different though. In some circles it might cause some upset, so it depends how much the couple care really. It's their wedding.

I would not as I think the evening part of a wedding is the absolute worst part. I would pick a different venue so that I could share the actual enjoyable part of the wedding with my guests.

We didn’t include an evening part with dancing and such at our wedding because we hate it so much, but I know DH and I are odd.

I think it could cause issues if some who have the same level of relationship get all day some evening only. I’d opt for one or the other for all non wedding party cousins

A few times a year I think is fairly close - I see my cousins at funerals! (Fortunately not a frequent occurrence)

I dont mind getting an evening invite for a colleague etc but I wouldn't put myself.under p to go,if local etc likelt would. I likely wouldn't attend a family wedding if only getting an evening invite lol. Unless everyone only got an evening invite,id fel like a 2nd thought

I've been invited to the evening only event before and I'm fine with it. I actually prefer it, the party and food to me is the best part. 😂

I’m not offended at getting an evening only invite but rarely accept. It’s not that enjoyable when many guests are already slightly drunk and often if it’s in the same room as the daytime reception and not been properly tidied up it can look a bit messy, with guests hats/half empty glasses on tables so it doesn’t feel that welcoming