Advice for no Children at Wedding

The easiest and only polite way is to simply not include the children's names on the invitation. It is never polite to put anything like "No Kids", "Adults Only" or any variation thereof on the invitation.

On the rsvp card indicate the number of seats reserved "We have reserved 2 seats in your honor".

If anyone changes the number, writes their kids in or asks you directly, You respond " There must have been a misunderstanding. We are unable to accommodate the children. If this means you will be unable to attend, we will miss you at the wedding."

Do NOT give excuses like space, budget etc. It only opens the subject for debate. Also do NOT say anything about parents enjoying themselves without their kids. Some parents get highly insulted by someone without kids telling them how to enjoy themselves.

At my wedding there is only going to be a few children at the wedding and they are all involved in a role at the wedding. I am adding this to the insert of the invitation and on the wedding website:
Sadly, we are unable have children at this event that are not directly involved in the ceremony. Please respect the difficult decision that the bride & groom faced with this challenge.

All you have to say is that it’s an adult only affair.

View Quoted Comment Love it thanks all!!

We said "So that all guest enjoy an evening of relaxation and celebration, the Bride and Groom respectfully request an adults only ceremony and reception." So, I know this may not be the most popular thing on WW, but it worked beautifully for us and was well received by guests with and without children. We actually received compliments on the phrasing! I will say, that because we asked for no kids, we sent STD out a touch earlier [which included the request] because we understood that we had both out of town guests who would need a little extra planning time to make arrangements to accommodate the request. That was also well received. Don't overly worry about making this request, and you dont really have to explain. From my experience, most people are understanding and obliging.Good Luck!

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I really like the way you phrased that, and emphasized that it was not a lightly made decision.Good Job!

I put it on my website that said although we love kids this will be an adults only wedding/reception. I also spreaded by word of mouth saying I wanted everyone to have fun and let loose so it will be an adults only event. Everyone text me after saying I’m so glad you didn’t have kids all over the wedding.

We put on our website - please note, this an adult only celebration. On the rsvp cards we put- we have reserved (number of seats) in your honor. If anyone rsvps more than that number we will just contact them at that time.

While I will definitely allow children at my wedding reception, the last wedding I was a part of (April 2018) simply added "adult only reception " on the invitation and everyone complied. Most parents seemed happy to be able to have a night out without worrying about their children at a wedding.

We received a wedding invitation recently for FH's nephew. It was addressed to only us adults. We got the message and gladly RSVP'D. If people need a further clue, on your RSVP card, add, "We're reserving X seats." If they still don't get the message, then you're going to have to make a follow up call and say, "We can only accommodate you and X. I'm sorry if that means you won't be able to attend. We'll miss having you there."

We created our wedding website with wedding wire and I love that on the RSVP tab only the the names of those invited show up with no room to add names.

Even though it specifically states we cannot accommodate children, it has not stopped our side of the family to ask if they can bring their kids. I've been politely saying no. It's been tough because we hardly ever see this side of the family.