Wondering what the appropriate location for your wedding? Not sure where to have your wedding reception? Don’t know how many guests to invite or how to invite them? Here is some semiformal wedding etiquette.

Location of wedding ceremony
When planning a semiformal wedding, the location of the wedding ceremony can be a church, chapel, hotel, synagogue, club, home or garden. Remember you are not limited to these locations; feel free to pick a place that has significance for you and your partner. We chose to have our wedding ceremony on a monument in a well-known park in Manhattan. Monuments or certain areas of parks can be rented for weddings, no matter what state you live in. In Manhattan, if you have a wedding party of more than 10 (including minister/reverend) you must have a permit and have to apply to the parks department for approval. Outdoor weddings can be beautiful provided that the temperature and weather work with you. In our case, our outdoor summer wedding ceremony resulted in amazing photo opportunities since it did not rain - one of the biggest concerns with planning an outdoor wedding.

Location of wedding reception
When planning a semiformal wedding, the location of the wedding reception can be a restaurant, hotel, club, garden or even your home. My wedding reception was at the world famous Tavern on the Green restaurant in Manhattan’s Central Park. While dating my husband and I spent many hours at the park having picnics and figured this restaurant was the most fitting. Tavern on the Green hosts thousands of weddings each year and has also been featured in many movies.

Number of wedding guests
When planning a semiformal wedding, the number of wedding guests is about 75 to 200. We chose to have a more intimate reception so we chose to invite 75 close family members and friends. Obviously if you are from a big family and feel you must invite everyone, including the cousins you haven’t seen in 10 years then feel free to do so. This is just to give you an idea of what typically happens at a semi-formal wedding.

Types of Wedding Invitations and Announcements
When planning a semiformal wedding, the invitations and announcements should be engraved or thermo graphed. There are plenty of discounted stationery websites that have many types of beautiful invitations and announcements.

Continue reading about Semiformal Wedding Etiquette – Decorations, Food, Beverages and Music and Wedding Party Attire and Attendants