Kids at weddings?

I've been to countless weddings with kids and they didn't ruin anything. They have fun dancing and they entertain each other when they're not dancing. I've never seen babysitter services at weddings since the kids are free to do what they want (with parents watching and intervening as necessary, but hasn't happened that I've noticed) and generally well behaved.

Honestly, I don't think there's anything to worry about.

The consensus is generally that kids are an all or nothing thing. It can be risky to only invite some children and not others, as your friends/family who had to arrange and pay for childcare may be confused/annoyed that other children were allowed to attend. They won't know who is/isn't from out of town and you definitely don't want to spend all night explaining it to everyone.

That's the general feeling I've been getting. Our wedding capacity is 75 and if we invite ALL kids, we're talking about 20 of them...

I was concerned about kids at my ceremony, not so much reception. i hired the church nanny to look after kids during the ceremony because i can just tell that they might be disruptive during something like that. but for the reception i think they should be fine. i do wanna say that i'm not sure how likely someone would want to utilize a baby sitting service though.

if you want to keep kids occupied you could have some coloring activity books and things like that

Then I wouldn't invite any children. You can't tell some guests their children can come, but tell others they won't without upsetting your guests.

Do you mean by a separate baby sitting service or do you mean baby sitting service on site?

Our guest count is about the same! We have about 75 people and about 25 are kids. I didn't realize how fertile our friends were until we put our guest list together, Lol. At the end of the day, you have to do what you feel comfortable with, and what is affordable, but I do agree with PP that kids can usually entertain themselves (and others!) at a wedding, so shouldn't be a huge disruption if you decide to go that way.

I'm not sure how many would want to use a baby sitting service on site. i would want to think that parents would still want to check up on their kids every now and then.

Sounds like you decided to include the kids? Were you thinking about hiring a childcare service or doing anything special for the kids? like a special kids menu?

I see. Yes, we were thinking of using one of the bridal suites to create a separate space for the kids and have kids table. They wouldn't be out of the venue but would just have a separate space.

a) they will ruin the vibe of the wedding? I personally don't think so. We had an elegant, formal wedding (with a party vibe after) and we had kids at our wedding.

b) how helpful/effective would hiring an on-site baby sitting service be? Would kids still want to run back and forth to their parents? and causing any issues? We hired an on site baby sitting service and our venue had a kids room. Several parents left their kids in the room during the ceremony and a couple kids hung out there during the reception. We included an insert card to parents with kids 10 and under about the service and room if they wanted to use it.

c) Would it be possible to restrict based on age? Such as ages 5 and above are welcome? Newborns should always be welcome at weddings since it's very hard for parents to leave them at such a young age. I really don't understand age restrictions at weddings unless it's 21+. I personally think 1 year olds are way easier/calmer than a 5 year old running around. It also just depends on the kids & parents.

People have really strong opinions about kids, and rightfully so - parents have to look out for the kiddos, I get it. But generally the only safe thing to do here is a set and rule and stick to it, no matter what. Our rule is no kids, except the ones in the wedding party. And no matter the situation or who asks, that's our rule.

The problem with an on-site sitter is that the people traveling in won't have met the sitter before and that makes some parents uncomfy. They won't want to leave their kids with someone they don't know - again, totally reasonable, it just makes it hard to get a sitter that everyone will be okay with. I'd reach out to them ahead of time and ask, and if they don't like the sitter idea, then just be aware that some people won't travel in if they can't bring their kids with them to the event. If you're okay with that, then proceed without kids.

Yes, we decided children were invited. That being said, we've definitely had friends already tell us, "No way am I bringing my kids!" because they want to have a night out together child-free, so we don't expect all 25 will attend. We do have a Kids Meal option (probably for kids under 10) that is a lot more affordable. No childcare planned and no kids table. I am considering activity boxes like the one below for the littlest kids that would have maybe a coloring book, crayons, glow stick, maracas, etc. (basically whatever Dollar Tree has, haha), although I have seen others say this is not necessary because the kids will entertain themselves with each other and on the dance floor. It will really be a last minute decision based on the budget.

We won't be having a dance floor though... None of my family or friends are that into dancing..

We opted for no kids at our wedding and I am so glad we did. I have been to many weddings that included children and at each wedding the children were either 1) crying/making noise during the ceremony {super distracting} 2) running around acting crazy during the reception 3) taking up a lot of space on the dance floor and preventing the adults from being able to stretch out and enjoy themselves.

As far as having an age cut off, I think it is an all or nothing thing with kids. Parents won't find it fair that someones 14 year old could come but their 15 year old couldn't.

We had kids at our wedding, and it was fine.

That said, either have all the kids at the wedding, or none of them. Arbitrary rules about who has to hire a babysitter and who doesn't will just create unnecessary drama.

Since most of the children we invited were babies or toddlers, we hired a babysitter to be on standby. She was a great help with corralling them and giving them a place to be away from the noise and crush, but mostly they joined us and danced and played.

Hi Rebecca! Thanks for the advice. We, the couple, will be paying for the babysitting service, we wouldn't be asking our guests to hire one because most of them are coming from out of town and I doubt they will know anybody locally.

We have let everyone know no children please. We will have our own children there but they are young adults between the ages of 19-25. There will be an open bar etc and we just really want to let our hair down and have fun in a formal adult event.