According to Halacha, is there an obligation for a husband and/or groom to invite others to a Seudat Nissuin? Or are they free to not invite anyone else to the festive meal after the wedding?
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hebrewbooks.org/…– DeuteronomyCommented Jan 30 at 0:46
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Two levels to the question here: (1) do you need to invite a minyan for the 7 brachos (likely no, but we do seem to make an effort to do so), (2) even if you don't need a minyan, should there be guests as a fulfilment of the quasi-obligation to have a seudah– AKACommented Jan 31 at 6:42
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1 Answer
The sheva brachot said at the end of a wedding feast require a minyan. So at a minimum you would need to invite guests for that if you want to say the blessings. This is not mandatory every day (see e.g., here and here) but a very strong custom on the meal after the wedding (see e.g., here and from personal experience - I have never seen a wedding without *sheva brachot).
The gemara Megila 23b and Mishne Torah Ishut 10:5 are the sources for the need of a minyan at sheva brachot
The wedding blessings are recited only in the presence of a quorum of ten adult free men. The groom is counted as part of the quorum.
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You definitely have seen such weddings. Many happened in the beginning of the covid pandemic, we all saw these videos of a tiny wedding happening in a street outside an apt building and the isolated couple just went inside alone. (Also many sefardi weddings don't have sheva brachot at the meal since they don't do a yichud room at the wedding.)– Double AA ♦Commented Jan 30 at 15:34
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1More importantly, is the fact that you don't often see such weddings due to a desire to orchestrate things to be able to say the blessings as you claim, or is it just because most people have more than 10 friends who were at the chuppah anyway? You have no evidence or basis for claiming there is a strong custom to make sure to have a minyan for this purpose any more than at any other meal during the first week.– Double AA ♦Commented Jan 30 at 15:35
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@DoubleAA You are right for COVID (even if in Israel, being more relaxed with rules in general, and first to be vaccinated, there was always some form of food/7brachot). I can just say from personal experience that I never saw a meal without 7brachot - but it might just be me– mblochCommented Jan 30 at 16:19
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@doubleAA The custom from what I've seen is to make an effort to have a minyan/panim chadashos even for meals the rest of the week, to the point of inviting random people to join in! So it's not just that people "happen to have 10 friends" (though at a Sefardi wedding this wouldn't yet apply like you said)– AKACommented Jan 31 at 6:47
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@AKA even if you assume that is not just ignorance (and bracha levatala since random people don't increase simcha), the question remains is the first meal different– Double AA ♦Commented Jan 31 at 12:00