Kids at weddings.

KIDS HATE WEDDINGS. They're boring, they hate dressing up, and they hate the food, they only thing they want is cake. Leave them home and let the parents quit being helicopters for ONE night. People act like it's impossible to leave the baby with a bottle and grandma for ONE night.

We will not have children attend our wedding other than our 2, and they will be leaving after dinner.

I love my children, and I love my friends and families children...but this is ultimately is my(our) night and we would like to be able to let loose and not worry about them.

And we would like our guests to think of it as a date night.

Since we are on a budget we decided no kids. Also it gives the parents a break. My MOH has a 11 year old son and had said even if we did have kids at our wedding she wouldn't bring him because she would want to focus on the wedding and the open bar lol. Not a bad choice

I have LOTS of kids coming to my wedding. So I think it depends on the couple and how involved you are with kids. I was a single mom with friends who are single moms and was not about to ask them to leave their babies at home. I am have a games and coloring table at the reception. We are doing a sand blending ceremony because we are a blended family. So children will be a part of the ceremony. We are just a family who loves children so the wedding isn't just about us.

We're having a kid free wedding but very few of our guests have young children and most of those who do have family nearby, so it isn't a big hardship for them to find childcare for the night.

Personally, I want our guests to enjoy themselves and every single wedding I have been to where there are kids the parents spend most of the night parenting and kid wrangling, and rarely get to break away to have adult fun. Kids also don't have the same social graces as adults, and we don't want children distracting from our ceremony or reception. All of the parents we have talked to are very much looking forward to an adult kid-free date night at our wedding; so far no one has told us they won't be able to attend because they can't bring their kid. We don't have any kids we are close to so having them at our wedding would add zero value to us.

Not allowing kids. FH has a big immediate family and they ALL have kids. I love kids, I truly do but we're paying for the wedding ourselves and our venue is $---/per person (including kids). That's a lot for us to cover and a decision needed to be made. Because there are so many kids, we are opting to not have a ring bearer or a flower girl (fine by me). To keep everything even across the board and to not offend anyone (people are going to get offended when they see that we aren't having kids) we figured, not having them there at all is the best route to take. We know how some family members can be and will call out if someone else's kid is there and there's isn't. I've been to weddings where the bride and groom have a child and they still had a kid free wedding...their daughter was a flower girl and after she did her job, took pictures, she had a sitter come and get her for the rest of the evening. Good luck with your decision.

This was a struggle for us as well. I asked a few of the parents before making the decision and they were ok with not having kids there. They wanted it to be like a date night for them and some time that they could let loose and not have to constantly be on the lookout for their kid(s). I get this this is a touchy topic and you are never going to please everyone, but it's starting to sink in that this day is for my FH and I. We made the best decision for us and for what we wanted the day to be and that's all you can do. Best of luck!

View Quoted Comment Thanks Erin! I’ve asked a few parents and got the same answer. It’s mainly our older family members that are making a fuss about it.
Best of luck to y’all too!

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Hi we actually have not had any backlash except one cousin. If they do not have a baby sitter they just can not come and people have been okay with it. It's our wedding so it is what we want and not what everyone else wants.

My fiancé has 2 girls and I have a boy. It is very important to us that they are a part of our day, along with our nieces and nephews- that we are both very close to. I think it just depends on what you want. It's ok to be direct with people you will be inviting, without someone else's input over who you should invite and why. Let it be you and your partners decision on it. I can say that even my mother was suggesting I invite people that were part of the family, but that I personally don't know very well- so I said no. She understood why though. Ultimately, my fiancé and I will be paying for our wedding. What we chose and who we chose to be a part of it will be those that have been a part in making us the people we are today. Good luck on your decision! Oh, and by the way, once we get a good head count on children, our venue suggested a location for a bounce house if we'd like. So that was an option as well!

Taylor,

We are doing a kid free wedding. We both love kids but the kids can get a little bit of a handful. We would much rather have the day to ourselves and all the adults can just have a good time. Someone somewhere will have a problem with your choice so do what makes you both happy.

We are doing no kids under 16 except our daughter and my nephew who will in the wedding but even he is leaving after dinner.

Pros: we want people to drink and dance and have fun. So many of our family and friends stated that they can't wait for a night off. Our guest list was more controlled. We could only have 60 people. His brother alone has 5 kids that would have cut our friends out.

Cons: I haven't seen any yet. I mean I love all the kids so of course I wish we could have everyone there, but it will be fine.

I'm inviting 33 kids and babies to my wedding! It's inevitable because my close family and friends have kids. Hopefully the kids liven up the night a bit, but it's adding a significant expense to our catering bill. I'll have the make sure the DJ plays radio edit music all night, and even then I'm dreading comments from over concerned parents about our dance playlist...

We are having kids, all ages. I just can't imagine not having them there. I think it's great to expose them to a day full of love and family!

Both of our children were in the wedding along with our nephew. Along with that, it was an out of state wedding so everyone was traveling. i found it wrong to ask people to travel out of state for the weekend without their family. plus having other kids there kept our children entertained and happy. it worked out great! i know some are afraid of children at their wedding but as long as you provide a little something for them they will be happy. I had coloring pages and crayons at every table but mostly they played with the glow sticks and photo booth lol

The only kids at the wedding will be those that are in the wedding. I know that it's probably frowned upon but money is a huge factor. My fiance agreed to it in the beginning and now he wants to change it. I was mad at first but it's too late so I'm not going to worry about it. We could have included kids but it would be a whole lot more money.

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13+ sound like a good age to have.. How would you word that so other people with younger children don't get offended? Some of my friends have kids that are younger so i don't want to be rude.. and also my niece is going to be 2 and shes the flower girl so i wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea...

View Quoted Comment I’ve looked on ways to word it on Pinterest and have found some really nice ways. The only small children we are allowing are those in the wedding party. I’m going to word it along the lines of “although we love your littles, our venue has limited space. We’d love for Mom and Dad to enjoy a night to themselves. With respect, we ask that any children under 13 that aren’t in the wedding party please stay home. There will be more than enough cupcakes to take them one home!”

View Quoted Comment Are you putting that on the invitation or did you use a website?

View Quoted Comment I’m putting it on both, that way no one misses it. I know it will take up a lot of room on the invites, but it’s better than having to turn people away or pay extra.