It is permissible to for you to invite your relatives for the Nikah of your daughter. As it is Sunnah to have the Nikah ceremony in the Masjid, the male relatives may be invited and encouraged to attend the ceremony in the Masjid. You may even announce the Nikah in the Masjid precincts (by way of writing the announcement on the board, etc) and welcome the local Musalllees also to be witness to the Nikah ceremony.

As far as feeding your relatives on this occasion is concerned, we would like to apprise you of the fact that it is not Sunnah for the bride’s side to host a lavish wedding reception, which has become a custom and norm nowadays. Huge sums of money are squandered by hiring upmarket wedding venues to feed the guests and many un-Islamic practices (such as intermingling of sexes, music, photography and video-recording of the event) take place which are strictly condemned in Shariáh. Yes, it is Sunnah for the bridegroom to host a Waleemah function after he spends some time with his bride in total privacy (preferably the day after the bride is sent to the groom’s home for the couple to spend the night together). However, in the Walimah too, the bridegroom’s party must avoid wastage and extravagance and try to keep the Walimah feeding as simple as possible, where no actions contrary to Shari’ah such as intermingling of the sexes or video-taping, etc. take place.

Those relatives who are invited for the Nikah from out of town may perhaps arrive when some meal-time such as (lunch or dinner) sets in. Obviously, they cannot be expected to remain hungry, nor can they be expected to go and have meals in the local restaurants; hence there would be leeway to feed these relatives at the home of the bride’s family (whether these relatives are from the bride’s family or the groom’s family), but with the intention of hosting them for lunch/dinner on the basis of Ikraamu-Dhuyoof (showing hospitality to guests) and with the following conditions:-

Such feeding must be free and unadulterated from all sort of sins such as intermingling of sexes, Israaf (extravagance and wastage of wealth), Bidaat (innovations) or Rusoom (traditions that are against Islam); while keeping in mind that it is not a specific Sunnah of the occasion of Nikah but rather a normal Dawat of lunch or dinner that happened to coincide with the time of the Nikah ceremony. (Fataawa Mahmudiyyah Vol. 12 Pg. 142)

The ideal thing (in order to avoid unestablished customs or other questionable actions), would be to have the Nikah ceremony at a time that does not coincide with any mealtime, for example having the Nikah during a Tablighi-Ijtimaa (if such Ijtima is taking place close to the Nikah date) so that it does not remain necessary to feed those who attend the Nikah. They would simply attend the Nikah ceremony and then return to their homes to attend the Walimah the next day that would be hosted by the bridegroom.