Exceptions for kids at no kid wedding?

I think it's safe to consider "babies" a year and under. If your friend has an 18 month old who is exclusively breastfed, first of all more power to that mama, but I'm sure she could ask and you could make that exception. Most stop nursing around a year old though, and even if they are breastfed, they probably are taking a bottle by then.

I don't think that you necessarily have to make exceptions for out of town guests. Your local guest with a 5 year old who wasn't invited isn't going to see your out of town guest with a 5 year old who was invited and understand that it's because they live so far. They're just going to see that someone else's child was invited while their child of the same age wasn't. It's not quite as simple as seeing a small baby and understanding that it's because they need to be with mom to nurse.

I don’t understand why some people just don’t get that kids are not invited and try to bring them anyway. If you can’t get a sitter, decline the invite. Especially so for people that need to fly or drive long distance.

I feel like people will never understand the invite is for them and not kids. A family friend was planning her daughters wedding and they wrote to Mr and mrs. When they got the rsvp back it was an rsvp for 6!! Not okay. So they had to make that awkward phone call and told them check who the invite is addressed to, adults only. Needless to say these people with the kids were pissed...but come on. I am going to be very upset if someone does something like this for our wedding

The other side of the coin is who are you ok with getting a decline from? When my cousin got married, I lived out of town and had an infant. First of all I didn’t have anyone locally I could leave my baby with for a weekend. It was unreasonable to expect my in-laws could come stay with the baby while we left town. I declined the invitation. There’s a lovely photo of all my cousins except me with my grandparents from that wedding. My grandfather passed away a few weeks later. That baby is 19 now. My aunt has that picture hanging in her dining room and people still comment it’s a shame I was missing.

I didnt mind declining. I’m sure the bride and groom didn’t miss me, but people who were also important to the day did. After the fact, making my baby an exception seems silly.

I get the arguments of “it’s a wedding, not a family reunion” and “it’s your day, do it your way”. I truly see where people are coming from. But please understand that the event is important to other people too.

As a mom I say a year and under is acceptable. By a year they’re eating more real foods and even if they’re breast feed(unless medical circumstances) they should be eating enough actual meals they don’t need to breast feed during a wedding. I would expect a no kids wedding to include babies but not toddlers as they’re loose cannons

I’m having the same issues, have family coming from far but still no kids allowed. Just the flower girls and page boys🤷🏻‍♀️
None of the kids are under 1 however one of them is 2 and still
i feel it’s a really personal decision but I don’t think it’s an event for kids. I also understand if they can’t make it but telling them a year earlier makes me feel will be easier for them to plan accordingly.

We had a no children rule, no exceptions. Not even newborns. We did not want to risk a baby crying during the ceremony. We knew 2 people with babies less than a year old (one of them was my bridesmaid) and we had no issues, the babies were left at home. With that being said, not everyone is comfortable leaving their babies at home so if you do go this route, be understanding that those people may not be able to make it.