Hubby and I were invited to a family friend's wedding over the weekend, so of course we bought a gift (nothing too expensive luckily!), got dressed up and went along, expecting to have a great afternoon watching the ceremony and then a fun night at the reception. The reception was going to be held at the same venue as the wedding and everybody just hung out for an hour or two while the bridal party went and took photos. While this was happening hubby and I noticed that a lot of people were starting to leave, and then our friend's mother came up and told us that the reception was only for family and best friends. So we went home a little disappointed, having expected and planned for a big night and instead being home by 6pm lol.

I'm not bothered that the reception was a small thing because I only got married a year and a half ago myself so I know how crazy expensive weddings can get, especially the catering for receptions. But we just expected since we were invited to the wedding we must be going to the reception aswell. Were we wrong to assume that? Or is that a bit weird? At least stipulate it on the invitation I think :/ (invitation invited us to the "wedding of so and so" not "ceremony only" and I knew from previous discussions with this friend that the reception was going to be held at the same place, and after the ceremony the celebrant also said to stick around as the reception was held there) I know the bride and groom aren't the kinds of people to just want as many gifts as possible but I feel like it does kind of look that way inviting people to only the ceremony and not including them in the celebration after... I dunno, what do you think?