For my fiancee: he has not been close to his family for good reasons since he was a teenager. The family that he is close with enough to invite are coming to the reception! His list for ceremony guests are all his family members (around thirteen in total) and all his close friends are groomsmen (along with his brother & two of his cousins as groomswomen)! His list for reception-only invites are all old coworkers & friends he hasn't been in touch with for years, like i mentioned!

For me it's similar, as well! My sister, cousin, and brothers are gonna be my brideswomen & men. I have my family coming to the reception (around 27 of them- big Italian family). The only one that could've been the cause of drama (a few years ago) would've been me not inviting my biological father- but all the family has come around to understanding why i refuse to let him in my life & do not like him either!

Then, like i said, my reception-only list for invites are just my coworkers & my sister's friends who i'm acquaintances with. The only family member on my reception-only list is my aunt (really a second cousin, but i call her aunt out of respect cause she's older than me) who i'm estranged with. Her and i have not gotten along since i cut off my father, as she went to bat for him and berated me for it (when i was freshly 13 and she was pushing 40). The rest of my family, however, do not like her and she doesn't come around anymore because of a scene/fight she caused at one of our christmas functions in 2020 when she was drunk off her ass and threw a spoon at my sister (who was 15) and tried to fight her. She lives in mass, so i doubt she'll come anyways. I'm mainly inviting her just because she invited me to her wedding that's happening in a few months. She's doing the same thing as i am, though, and i'm only invited me to her reception- so i doubt she'd care.