Children or no children?

Don’t make an age cut off or you run into issues with parents who have an 11 year old who isn’t invited and a 13 year old who is. I think the major factors are budget and the vibe you want for your wedding. If you want a very formal event or there will be lots of drinking, maybe not the best environment for kids. If you’re having a less formal event and wouldn’t mind having kids, I would put your entire guest list together without kids, then with kids and see if it still fits your budget. If we invited the children of all of our guests, we would need to feed 40+ more people and that just wasn’t in the cards for us. Another option would be inviting immediate family’s children, so your nieces and/or nephews, but not children of extended family and friends.

I think Caytlyn have great advice. As a mother of two Our wedding will be kid friendly and I look forward to all their entertaining antics because I know there will be plenty. I’m doing a custom coloring book, crayons, bubbles, etc to keep them entertained and I’m sure they will dance and steal grandma away to play with them. I’ve only ever been to one child-free wedding, before I had kids, and it was much more formal, with much more alcohol consumption. Are there kids in your family or Your SO’s family that you would miss not being there and/or want to include in the wedding?

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Im definately open to the idea of children attending. i think id be worried about how to keep them entertained as well. a small play area would be nice. with those kinds of items

I agree with the first commenter. She had sk.e pretty sound advice. We are personally not inviting children because we cant stand kids running around, or making noise during the ceremony. We dont have kids ourselves and probably never will. We wanted to have a real party with heavy drinking and there will be about 400 open flame candles present. That just isn't an environment the works with kids.

We're including kids, I had never heard of a kid free wedding until I read about it on WW.
Most of our guests are traveling for the wedding so I don't think it's right to also ask them to leave the kids at home for the weekend. In fact, alot of our guests from out of state are taking their kids to Disneyland before the wedding.
I also have quite a few kids in my family that I want at my wedding.
We'll have 4 babies, a handful a kids under 10, and a handful of preteens and teenagers. Im creating a little kids corner they can go to when they're bored. We'll also have lawn games that all guests can play.

We have chosen to not include children of all ages at our wedding.
The youngest guest at our wedding will be 17 years old and I don’t consider that to be a child anymore.

We chose to do so as the venue that we will be choosing isn’t very kid friendly so there won’t be much to do and bored kids turn into destructive kids quick. Second, not everyone has the budget to include children from all of the guests they invite as that adds up to more food and extra tables and chairs. Maybe even a separate menu for children. Thirdly, I would want my guests to enjoy their time and if I am paying for an open bar then I expect the guests that drink to actually be able to drink without worrying about taking care of their littles.

I hope my reasons help you with your decision.
Just remember it is your wedding and your decisions should be based on what’s best for you and your fiancé.

As other posters have said, it depends on the vibe you're going for and your crowd.

We're having the kids because a) my family is close and I want the kids there b) Most of our guests don't have kids so it's only about 15 children and c) a lot of our guest list is traveling and it's easier for them this way. A few people have elected to get babysitters but that was their choice.

My family has almost always had kids at the weddings (and there have been a lot of weddings - think big Italian family) and I don't remember there ever being a "designated kids area" or kid-specific activities - the parents always provided the toys/child's entertainment. I don't remember anyone having any issues, but we're used to big family events with children underfoot.

If you can work it into your budget do it. I see both sides of the argument but honestly which is easier to deal with? All the explaining why children are not welcome, are there sitters you can recommend for out of town families, what age is the cut off, why does the flower girl or ring bearer get to be there, can I please bring my child/children anyway, sorry I can't make it because I can't find anyone to look after them because my babysitter flaked last minute, why are punishing us for having kids, well I'm not coming because my children aren't included, etc.
Or you can have the kids there and maybe, maybe, have a few minor annoyances parents have to attend to. Adults can be just as bad as kids too or worse.
Like I said if can afford having them there, do it.

Personally I would just do adults only and give people plenty of time in advance to plan.