No Kids, PERIOD!!!

WW people think its rude but in real life where most people are down home and don't know Roberts Rules of order or Emily Post requirements, clarity is a higher good than the very mild slight of saying "Adult only reception" in small print on the bottom of the invite

I mean, I’m well aware that if I receive an invitation that has Miss Soso, it’s not including my son..I don’t think most parents are inconsiderate, idiots...but again, those that I know are well aware of what an invite addressed to Mr & Mrs Soso means...but if I were unsure, I’d reach out to the host to verify, as would everyone parent I know...

Unpopular opinion but I think kids are cute at weddings. One of my favorite things at weddings is watching the little kids all out on the dance floor dancing their little hearts out. However, I recognize that lots of couples don't want kids at their wedding and that's certainly your right, so as others have stated, just address the invite to the adults in the family and specify the number of seats reserved for the couple. Writing no kids allowed on the invite can be off-putting and you'd probably end up offending some of your guests. And you can't really do anything but trust that your guests will respect your wishes and they should if they're people you consider close enough to invite.

Address it to only the adults DO NOT put "to Smith family" . Also no theirs no real nice way of addressing that it will be awkward but If you're going to do that you've got to make sure that everybody knows the rule because if someone brings their kid in there others are gonna be upset about that. Also if you're very adamant about having a child free wedding maybe you should look into hiring someone to sit with all the children that would make it a more classy way to a dress that. And you could put on the invitation that you will have someone to watch the kids during the ceremony and reception.

If I invited a couple by name, allotted them 2 seats, had information about a child-free or adult reception on my website, and someone showed up with their child instead of their husband, I would expect my DOC to diplomatically handle the situation.

You are perfectly within your rights to politely turn them away just as you would anyone else who showed up without an invitation.

There is only so much accommodation that anyone can expect from the hosts of any social event.

We did all of this... addressed to parent(s) only, did number of seats reserved.. We included on our website the festivites are over 21... did everything "right., I was talking to one of the guests when she off handed mentioned another guest would be bringing her young children. This guest rspved for one (herself - she rsvped no for the plus one).... and she has multiple children she is bringing. She didn't plan to say anything - just show up with them.... she still does.

I put adults only due to size of reception on website in February. No one said a thing. I put "adult only reception" on the invites in August and people freaked out. Like we didn't give them enough warning for a November wedding. I'm a teacher and I just know that I wouldn't be able to relax if children were there. Well...my FH's family has been extremely rude about it. Like RSVP that they can make it and then reply with "o wait we just saw our children can't come..count us out" and "how dare younot invite our children...it's family!" I just don't care anymore. Don't come then.

I know wedding wire hates it, but I'm considering also adding adults only reception on the invite. I have a lot of extended family that I can almost guarantee won't get it if I just address the invites to them and not their kids, even with the specific RSVP cards. I would rather be clear as day from the start.

Against WW popular response, we put "adults only event" on the rsvp insert card in our invitation. We also put it on our website. We also addressed them to only the adults and had only the adults names for the RSVPs. I've still had to have more than a handful awkward convos with family members who assumed because their kid is cute/young/family/special that their kid was the exception, or that they "didn't realize it was a kid free thing". I know my crowd. They don't read for comprehension and I can attest that the majority know little to no wedding etiquette. To me this is a know your crowd situation. I knew we had to make it clear in as many ways as possible.

@MoreMoore I like your description of why parents think they are the exception: cute/young/family/special. That hit the nail on the head.

I didn't want to cause a rift with future family so I just invited kids. Gotta fight your battles and I didn't want to start off on a bad foot. Wouldn't have been my preference but I also didn't feel comfortable inconveniencing people. I don't have kids so I don't feel like I can judge how hard it is to leave a baby/toddler/kid, especially when traveling out of town.

We just worded it simply in the invitation:

We hope you understand due to limited room, please do not bring any guests other than specified.

This is an adult only event.

I am having an almost lidless wedding. My now 13, then 15 year old and 2-3 of her friends of the same age will be there. I do not want to not have my child there as she's so important to me and my FH feels the same way. I am letting her have a few friends of her choice when the time comes so she has people her own age to talk to and do whatever teenagers do(I'm guessing spend the whole time on her phone lol). I was wondering myself how I explain that to people.

@bluevelvet b I love this idea and will be using

@meghan k I won't care either find a sitter or don't come *shrug*

I used to be on the ‘don’t put adults only’ on the invites side of the fence, but after addressing invites only to the couple and having someone rsvp to our website adding their toddler, I’m ok with ‘adults only’ on invites. It’s not nice having to do the uncomfortable phone call and get the whole, ‘why didn’t you just let us know earlier? Now we don’t know if we can get a babysitter in time’ criticism. Yes we may have been in the right etiquette wise, but there are still a whole lot of people unfamiliar with this rule of address. For some it just needs to be explicitly stated.

@Tricia we see people ignore the “x number of seats reserved in your honor” all the time, and by the sound of your guests, they’ll probably ignore the “adults only” line too. Then what?

My cousin put on her invites "While we love your children, this is an adults only affair." I know its kind of frowned upon but I liked the idea and I didnt put it on my invite but I put it on the RSVP card, I did the line with "(__) seats have been reserved in your honor" and then at the bottom of the RSVP I put "While we love your little ones, this is an adults only affair." Granted we dont have a ton of friends with children, I spoke with my friend beforehand and she said she wouldnt be insulted by seeing something like that on the card. Maybe that and the line of reserved seats was overkill, but id rather have that and make sure there is no confusion.. So far no one has pushed back asking for kids to come, but I did have someone ask why their ex wasnt invited.... SMH.

We also decided on an adult wedding, although there will be cousins there who are children. Our solution (which is very common among is circle) is to put "Adult reception to follow". We'll probably reiterate the same on our website somewhere. We're addressing it to the couples by name, and putting "we reserved x seats in your honor". Our rsvp's are only online and the only way they will be able to RSVP is if we have put their names in the online guest list. Anyone else will have to contact us directly. And honestly, if anyone shows up with their kids, they're not getting kicked out but they are volunteering to have their child sit in their lap esp if it's a toddler.

Most of my friends when I told them about the wedding started making sitter plans right away without my even telling them it's a kid free wedding. Formal weddings are genuinely not much fun for kids.

I mailed out the invites addressed to only those invited, "Mr. and Mrs. Jones" I put X seats reserved in your honor on the RSVP cards. People were still asking how to RSVP for their children. I don't know if everyone is that clueless but for us it was a mess. We had to verbally tell everyone that we weren't having children there and then I felt bad saying it out loud. Just do your part and see what your guests say. If all else fails you'll just have to specifically say no kids to them