No kids?

Well then she can stay home with the kids 🤷🏽‍♀️ I wouldn’t stress over it. Me & my FH are only having the kids that are in our bridal party at the wedding.

I would let them know that it is a child free wedding except for the bridal party and if that changed their attendance to the wedding you would understand and they should decline.

It is your choice to not invite children outside of family, and their choice to not come if that is what you want. We have several friends with kids but the only children we invited are my youngest niece (14) and our great nephews (3 and 5) One of our closest friends had to tell their 14 year old daughter why we made that decision and I talked to her too. We love the kids in our friends lived but we have a small venue and we definitely want to celebrate with as many of our friends and family as we can.

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Agreed. Stick to your plan.

I think it's best to stick to your guns, because if you start to make exceptions then you open the door for more people to ask you to and/or get upset that their kids couldn't come but you let theirs.

I think it would be best to say to them it's kid free aside from wedding party kids.

Totally appropriate: “I’m sorry if there was a misunderstanding, the invite was only intended for you and your wife. We are not able to accommodate any additional guests. We hope that you will still be able to attend but understand if this changes anything— please just let us know”

i would avoid explicitly stating “child free event” if there are some children— I understand your exceptions and they’re totally fine, but just be careful not to say “no kids!” then they see a kid and get mad. (“Immediate family children only” would be okay)

Absolutely not. I would say "I'm sorry, our guest list is complete and we are unable to accommodate extra guests."

View Quoted Comment This is exactly what you should say. If it means they don't come then okay they don't come.

No, you were not wrong, she was. If it only said "Mr. and Mrs." her doing that was tacky. Your wedding your choice

I would definitely say something along the lines of the invite was only for the 2 of you and only children in the family or bridal party are invited. Please let us know if you can still make it.

I don't think anyone considers 18 a "kid" for purposes of this discussion. So that means you really only have two kids coming, and they are in the bridal party.

I think it's perfectly fine to say, "the invitation was only intended for you and your wife, as this will be an adult affair. I'm sorry if this means you won't be able to attend." or even something about not being able to accommodate extra people. Either way, stick to your guns, and don't let these people bully you into allowing their kids.

You are right, she was wrong. This is biggest beef of mine: YOUR KIDS WERE NOT INVITED. Tell him you will miss his wife at the wedding. Do not negotiate, do not let him offer to pay for his kid's meals, nothing.

Be polite but firm, you made your decision for a reason. Plus, it wouldn't be fair to your other guests if they showed up with their kids.

I wouldn't make the exception for her. I agree with some of the suggestions to let them know that you understand if they can't make it.

She can stay home! My wedding is kid friend other than those in the wedding party and all of our guests know that. If they don't like it then oh well

It was kind of rude for her to add people who weren't on the RSVP, in my opinion. Don't budge on your child free wedding. Once you make an exception, you'll have to start making exceptions for everyone. The wife is free to not attend and be with her kids

I didn’t have any children at my wedding. Period. None. My aunt tried to add her triplets. My cousin tried to add her six children. I made sure to call them and nicely explain child would be unable to attend.

Stick to your original intention. Don’t bend to rudeness.

It is import to note they live 5 minutes from the wedding venue and the kids are teenagers. Like 16 and don't need a baby sitter