Babysitting services vs. no kids at reception please! Help!

I'm in a similar boat, as a few of my guests have infants/toddlers. I don't personally have kids but I know enough to not even consider asking a parent to leave a newborn with a babysitter if they aren't comfortable doing so. These new parents are family/friends and so having them at the ceremony is a must. Therefore, I've decided that I would much rather cough up a 100-200 bucks to have a babysitter in one of the smaller rooms of the venue for 4 hrs so that parents can come and go as they please to check on their little ones as well as still having the opportunity to enjoy themselves without too much worry/having to chase around a 2 year old all night. If you're venue happens to be at a country club, hotel, or any other place that has multiple rooms, this is one way that you could go.

That's not a bad idea, Aretina. Our reception is on the campus of my alma mater, an all girl's school. I'm looking into hiring some of the nursing students to watch some of the out of towner guests' kids. I think I'll look into renting one of the suites in the hotel where the reception is being held.

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Many couples have adult only weddings, for various reasons. There's no reason to feel bad about it if you give your guests enough notice to make arrangements. If you decide to get a sitter, that's very nice. However, it's better to either allow kids, or not. You will certainly have hurt feelings if you allow some and not others. The only exception are kids in the bridal party.

We've debated for a while and decided that if ppl say they are bringing their children then we'll have one especially for our out of town guests. We're going to somehow include a card asking if ppl are bringing kids or not and how many. While we will pay the deposit to book them if parents respond, the parents will have to pay the sitter service each hour to keep their children or they will watch their children themselves.

Here's what I put on my website:

Unfortunately due to space limitations, we will be having an “adults only” ceremony and reception. We hope you understand. If anyone needs assistance in making arrangements for child care please let us know and we will do our best to assist you.

Im debating on hiring a babysitter to watch any children at my in laws house.

Is there space in the building where you can accommodate the kids and maybe hire a baby sitter (or have those who have kids pay the baby sitter(s) that will be taking care of the kids in the building). If you hire a professional baby sitter she would probably have games and things for the kids to do while their parents and you enjoy the reception. Hope you can find a happy medium and if you can't people should understand you.

If you are arranging for the child care, hire a company that is licensed, insured and bonded and make sure all the sitters are properly background checked.

There are several reliable, trained wedding nanny services listed here on WW.

Interesting... we never considered kids wouldn't be invited. We have a 4 going on 5 year old together and lots of friends and family have children who are between 1 month and 12 years old... If the parents bring the kid they are responsible for the kid... if I go anywhere with my daughter I know I am a parent and I have to watch my kid. I think hiring a nanny would be above and beyond nice of you...

For my wedding reception I was thinkimg about having a jump house and at the ceremony only having an adult ceremony and maybe having my church assist with the nursery.... Just a thought.

We only invited children in our families, and included FH's goddaughter and her brother in this category. We had space constraints and also, 99% of our friends wouldn't have brought their kids even if we had invited them. Plus, I love kids, but it really does change the tone of an event. If we had a daytime wedding we definitely would have included all of our friends' kids, but for an evening party that goes into the wee hours with loud live music and such, it just doesn't really "work" IMO.

The onsite babysitter is a nice option for guests but if I were a 3 year old and my mommy was having fun at a party next door and I could hear the music, it would be tricky to distract me from that. (I like to think like a 3 year old. lol.)

Prior to choosing our locations, FH and I decided children would be invited to the ceremony, but the reception would be adult only.

Now that we have chosen the location for the reception, we are completely off the hook as the location does not allow anyone under the age of 21 (unless they are part of the wedding party) as we are serving alcohol.

Thank you all for responding! There is an area at the reception hall where they said we could hire a certified and insured baby sitter and the children would get complimentary children meals - chicken fingers, etc. I did not think of having the parents pay that could be an interesting way. I could also let our friends know who have children, but then again the ones with kids will be bringing them so they do not have to pay for a sitter. I am torn, and I know my friends and family with children under 1 will bring them no matter what, so.

This is so hard.