Kids at the wedding

Don't feel bad about hurting people's feelings. At the end of the day its your special moment and more importantly, your money. I'm not having any kids at my wedding and I don't feel one ounce of guilt. If you give people well in advance notice they should be able to find a sitter or drop them off with family. A way to help avoid the conversation with guests is to list it on your FAQ section on your wedding website. I used Zola and mine says "We love your kids—we really do, but we want our wedding to be adult only. Send your kids with their favorite family member or sitter and put your dancing shoes on! This is your big night off!"

Personally, I'd do all or none. Kids can't sit still for very long periods of time and the ceremony would be the hardest for them anyway. I don't feel like any parent would want to bring their kid for the ceremony, figure out how to tote them home, and then come back. It seems like more a hassle than anything. If you did put something on your invites, I think they'd end up not bringing them anyway to avoid headache. I'd skip the kiddos altogether!

This is what we did on our RSVP.

We included an insert with our invitations that were going to households with kids that said... "Parents, we want you to be able to fully enjoy the wedding so we are requesting that all kiddos be left at home. Thanks so much and we hope that you can celebrate with us on our special day!"

Everyone respected our wishes.

We had a full open bar and PLENTY of heavy drinkers. We invited all kids, a lot of people opted not to bring them knowing how we are with parties and wanted a night just for the parents. We had a kids room so if kids got tired or overwhelmed, they just hung out in there or went home.

I also put a little blurb about it on the wedding website!

We invited my nieces and nephews (most of them are teenagers, but the youngest was 10) and no other kids. We didn't do any kind of cute saying or anything like that. We just addressed the invite to the couple only (ex. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson as opposed to Johnson family). We had three people ask about it and just confirmed for them that their kids weren't invited. The majority understood, so we didn't get a ton of questions. It's definitely not rude and not something you should feel bad about. If we invited everyone's kids that would have been like another 50 people for us.

I have it on my wedding website that due to the nature of our venue we can only have adults at the ceremony and reception ( there's a pond with no fencing and it's a working peach farm soooo). I'll also list specific people that are invited on the RSVP and clear it up with anyone who has questions.