How to politely tell people we are having a kid free wedding?

Address the invitations to specific names only. If they still ask, just tell them unfortunately we can’t accommodate children at our venue.

We are just having an age limit ( 15 and up ) because we don’t want to worry about parents having to take care of their little kids and just want everyone to have fun.
We are adding onto our RSVP cards and on our website

“ While we adore your children, we have decided to make our special day ages 15 & up to allow all guests to relax and enjoy themselves. We thank you for your understanding.“
Hope this helps !

No mention at all on invites or inserts. You address envelopes only to invited guests and on the rsvp card you can either customize with invited guests’ names printed on each or ‘we have reserved ___ seats for you’. You can mention it on the website. But keep in mind that you do risk offending guests by allowing infants, the bride/groom’s children and/or flower girls but no other children or having a midrange cutoff age of 13 instead of 18.

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No one should be offended because the couple's children/siblings/nieces and nephews are at the wedding. They're immediate family.

View Quoted Comment Oh but it DOES happen. I’ve witnessed it first hand. When people are told it is a “kid free wedding”, then when they arrive there are children present, they get angry/irritated/offended, because it is perceived as their children weren’t “good enough” to make the cut. And they were forced to hire childcare, while others were allowed to bring their children. Allowing some children, but not all, unfortunately oftentimes leads to negative feelings (and trash talking) amongst the parents whose children were left out.

View Quoted Comment I've witnessed this as well which is why I wouldn't allow anyone to bring their children with the exception of newborns or those in the wedding.

It does not belong on the invitations, on any form. Except the absence of children's names

On my invitations I put Adult Reception. Only kids we would like to have is the flower girl and ring bearer

It’s terrible how often this topic is tiptoed around as if it’s wrong for an event not to include children. If you don’t want people making assumptions, then please add a clear and simple “adult ceremony and reception“ wherever you feel it’s needed. Everyone doesn’t understand the “names on the envelope” concept. So if it’s not explicitly stated, some parents then feel their children are automatically allowed everywhere, and that’s not the case. I feel that part of being a parent includes sacrifice and sometimes missing out. So that means some parents might not be able to attend everything if they don’t have child care. But they have enough time between the invitation arrival and the wedding to figure that out. It’s not a stress for you to take on.

I had the same issue! I decided to do what most of these lovely ladies suggested: Making the invitations out to specific names only and including a FAQ tab on my wedding website where I share that its a no kids wedding. Or politely phrased "Adults Only".

View Quoted Comment I agree. I did the same thing but, I also included a age limit.

We addressed save the dates to the couple only and are doing the same for invites. We also have it listed on our wedding website under FAQs. "While we adore your little ones, we ask that only adults attend unless specifically designated on your invitation or RSVP. This is a time to let your hair down, loosen that tie, and have fun!". We've also spread the word through word of mouth.

We're only allowing children of the immediate family attend due to most of our family being out of state and country.

We are having an adults only wedding and put on our wedding website "Invited guests only. Please no children." Our wedding is on the smaller side so we don't have too many guests with young children, so I was able to follow up with those who had kids to make sure they were aware and every one of them was looking forward to a kid free date night. There may be one couple with a baby there (less than 8 weeks old, and the father is a groomsman) but I think people are generally understanding of newborns.

If you are having some kids, but not all, I would not use the term adults only or kids free at all, because if people show up and there ARE kids that is when they are more apt to be offended. I would simply address the invite to the adult guests only and if possible, set up your wedding website so that only named guests can be RSVP'd for. If your wedding is small enough, consider having conversations with the families with kids to be clear that your wedding is only adults with the exception of your nieces, nephews, and siblings. Most people will be understanding that the only kids there will be close family and its not just a kids free for all.

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This is perfect wording!

View Quoted Comment Thank you DJ tanner!

View Quoted Comment Thank you Haylie any bit of advice helps! And finding finding right way to word things will definitely help people understand.

View Quoted Comment I agree Pam,but nowadays people get so easily offended over the simple things. So many of my fiances friends have kids too so as long as they are understanding and try their best to get childcare im sure itll work out.