Kids or no kids!!!

View Quoted Comment I was always told that any kids that are in the wedding party are exceptions.

We are having kids at our wedding, because my fiance has a lot of nieces and nephews, and he does not feel right to not include them. But we are limiting it to just immediate family and those coming from out of state/country.

I’m not having kids at my wedding. I don’t want a child crying during my ceremony or first dance and I want the adults to enjoy the wedding without having to watch their little ones. The youngest person at my wedding will be my niece who will be 12.

View Quoted Comment

Kids that are a part of the ceremony are the exception. You can certainly say no kids as guests, and have kids in your wedding that stick around.

We are not inviting kids, and this includes two out of three children of my FH’s brother. The third is our ring bearer, so he is the exception, but their other two are 2yo twins. No thanks! Lol. We feel a wedding is not a place for children. We don’t want our day to be filled with crying and screaming, and want our guests to be able to enjoy themselves. You need to be prepared that people will be upset and decline, but that is on them. They deserve a night out of fun too. If someone is unwilling to get child care to attend my wedding, then they have no place with my nearest and dearest. Less money for us to pay lol.

View Quoted Comment Now I’m thinking what if we have a kids only at ceremony and kids till 8/9 at reception

View Quoted Comment

That gets too tricky. Are you going to kick guests and their kids out at 8pm? That will just cause too much for you to worry about, and will come across badly. You should either decide to invite them or not.

We have 5 of our own kids that are in the wedding, my sister has 3, and his sister has 5. These are the only kids invited besides babies in arms. So far everyone has taken it well. His aunt did just ask him today of his cousins 2 young kids can come. I put my foot down. That's rude to all of our other guests that are paying for sitters. Plus even though i have 5 kids of my own, i dont want all the chaos at our wedding. If we invited all kids it would double our guest list and our budget just doesnt allow for that.

Oh boy this is a tough one. I say absolutely no kids. Parents are responsible adults and can get a sitter.


My future bother in law has 2 kids and they are not quite the most behaved boys. We said no kids and now the sister in law won't come and I'm not sad about that! We also don't want kids at our engagement party either, but his brother has made such a big deal. We will ask them to stay in one part of our home to not ruin the party.

View Quoted Comment We are doing adults only and on our actual invite I put adults only, but on the details page I put “while your kids are loved, we request that our reception be adults only”

Some people like to bring kids if they have none to watch the kid or kids while attending someone. But its your wedding your chocie!

View Quoted Comment I did a little research because we are a no kid ceremony and reception. They say it's tacky and inappropriate to put "no kids" or "adult only..." What you do on your RSVP is put Me and Mrs BLANK. On your website you add verbage of "adult only" by saying "we love kids, but due to the limited space we ask that you leave your little ones at home". Then don't budge on it. If you make an exception for one word will get out.


Hopefully your family and friends will be respectful enough to not cause problems as this is your special day!

We are allowing kids, but our venue doesn't charge for under 5 years, and charges half for 5-12. I have kids and he has nieces and nephews so we knew there would be some kids there. I decided to allow my friends to bring their kids if they want to, but honestly I don't want to pay for my friend's teenagers if they are just going to be hanging around looking bored, so i'm hoping to have a conversation with people about maybe not bringing their older kids if they don't really want to come. I have had a few people say its the perfect excuse to leave their kids with someone else and come out to party with us, but I am giving people the option, I hope I am not making a mistake!

As for your own wedding, if you have to pay per head even if they are younger and will barely eat, plus you don't really want a bunch of kids running around and want to have an adult party, then say "adults only" on the invitation or something. You can't please everyone unfortunately and it is your wedding. I think a wedding is the kind of event where people will understand, and just depends on who in your life is closest to you, if they have kids will it be difficult for them to get a babysitter, are they traveling and will have no one to watch their kids? Sometimes its a case by case basis I think, which makes planning even more difficult, good luck to you!

View Quoted Comment This is the perfect answer. We also did kid free. No issues, only one person couldn't come because of it.