No kids at ceremony/reception

No matter what you do someone will have a problem with it, or someone will bring their kids anyways. It sucks, but it happens.

Most people put on their invite, adult only reception. Or you can put Number of adults attending___

On invitation you simply write "adult only ceremony and reception" i have a wedding webiste and i went more in depth on there as to why" "we would like all guest to enjoy themselves and let loose! Parents take a night off from your little ones and join the fun!"

Plus my mom has been telling everyone too about no kids under 15..but she's also very vocal I love her

Thanks. I don't want to sound mean and I don't mind older teenagers attending (especially if they end up being designated drivers) but I want the adults to have fun and relax. For the out of town guest that have young children, do I need to arrange babysitters for the kids? Should I leave that up to them? Please help.

I just ran into this problem yesterday! My cousin emailed me and said "Your mom said no kids, but mine are invited, RIGHT?" Well...NO! lol

She seemed ok with the reasoning that we were working within a budget and that to invite one person's kids would lead to more people asking, which would take us well outside of what we had planned to spend. Somepeople might think that's tacky, but we have the excuset hat we're also in the market for a house.

As for babysitters, my friend rented a hotel suite and had teenage relatives rotate in and out of babysitter duty throughout the night. I heard a number of people say they really appreciated it. Who ever thought it would be this tricky?! Good luck!

I don't think you're mean at all. it's your day, and if you don't want kids there, don't have them. we feel the same. hopefully people will get the point if the kids names are not on the invitations. only those names on the envelope are the actual guests. but then you could also mention it on your wedding website that it is an adult-only wedding and if anyone needs help finding a babysitter, then you can put them in touch with someone. (we are actually having a babysitter on site for those with very little babies, but everyone else has to figure it out. and we are asking the ones with babies to arrive early since we can't offer the babysitter to everyone)

I am having the same thoughts, we have a lot of people coming from out of town (about half of our guest list), and quite a few of them have young children, I am trying to figure out the best option. I do like the idea of having a designated room for kids, with someone who can babysit and entertain them.

I posted something similar a while ago and had many responses...some said they didnt do the 'and family' phrase included in invites and stated word of mouth and wedding website No Children under a certain age....But I would simply type out the names of those in the household invited .So that there's no confusion.We did this because of limited space and we didnt think it would be appropriate for youngsters to be there while drinks were served..Good Luck

I agree I prefer to not having young children at my wedding, I put "adult reception" on my reception insert card- hopefully I wont have to say anything to anyone.. plus word of mouth is good.

I like the idea of having a designated spot for children and hiring someone to watch over them. That is a great idea. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with this dilemma. Thanks everyone, these are great suggestions.

I'm in the predicament, too. We arranged for a family friend (who is a teacher and great with kids!) to babysit at the hotel while our reception is taking place. This works fine for most of our out-of-staters that have to travel with their young children. However, I have a family member coming from across the country who is not comfortable having their child stay with someone that they don't really know...so they wish to bring the child along to the party. Though I understand their feelings, I really don't know how to get around this. Anyone have any ideas?

@ Laura, You just have to say in a nice tone, that you understand her feelings to leaving her child with a sitter, but If you make an exception for her, you are going to have to do it for everyone else OR you can simple say that if you let her bring her kid, LOTS of people are going to be upset and he would end up beign the only kid there because the rest of them are at the suite playing. You can also suggest giving her the sitters info sp she cna talk to him/her and see if that eases her mind, but in the very end, just say, I really am very sorry we can't accomodate CHILDS NAME/S, but we hope you understand and are able to find someine you trust to watch him/her so you can make it.

Don't say trust, say comfortable...lol forgot ot edit that..

It's poor etiquette to point out who isn't invited on an invitation. Just address your invitation to the adults. If they RSVP with more than whoever you invited, just call and explain the invitation is only for them, but you look forward to seeing their children some other time.

I posted this very same thing a couple of days ago. I' am so glad im not alone on this. you all have given me some very good ideas and i now feel better about the whole thing

I have no problem with saying no to children at the ceremony or reception. For this particular reason we aren't even having a ring boy or flower girl....didn't want to allow people to have a loop hole for children. Our invites will specify no one under 21 to attend. I also like one of the other posters comments about the rsvp card: number of adults attending _____. I think I'll use that as well. Sometimes you just have to be bold and get your point across. We don't have the budget or the room for kids, so don't bring them unless you want them eating a happy meal out in the car. LOL. My family is all traveling four hours to attend, so I am making it very clear that they should not waste their time bringing their children. We have even opted not to invite his sister from California because last year even though she was asked not to bring her children, she still did and they ran around during the speeches and made huge scenes- i.e. licking the ice sculpture & sticking fingers in the cake

I have a situation as well. I have a very large family and we are asking no kids 6 or under at the ceremony (the ceremony is family only) due to location and unsafe possibilities that could happen. BUT i am allowing kids at the reception. I do not know how to send the 2 separate invitations as we made for our "B" list for the reception.... The parents get one and address the other to the children?