My cousin called me when he received his invitation and said "I'm confused, I see that 2 seats are reserved for us. You know we have a 3 year old, right?" I said yes I know you have a 3 year old, but we do not want any kids under 8 because we have a videographer and do not want to run the risk of kids crying, talking, etc during the ceremony. He said okay cool that's fine, we will leave him with my mother (my aunt is not invited because she and my mom do not get along and my mom crossed her name off the guest list). Well I'm guessing his wife RSVP'd for them and left a comment "We are super excited and cannot wait to share this day with you. We will have to bring Liam, he will sit in our lap. I hope this will be ok".
I took the time to write out a FAQ page and even on the RSVP link in bold, it says *due to limited seating no children under 8 allowed*. I sent my cousin the screenshot and he said yeah sorry I will talk to my wife. Well she sent me a long message on FB (she does not have my number) about how she is not comfortable with leaving her child with MIL because the have a rocky relationship, she try will find a babysitter and if not, she and the 3 year old will sit in the car until the reception. I have not responded to her yet because I'm unsure what to say. We cut 2 of FH younger cousins (3 and 5 years old) because we have such a limited number of seats because we wanted a wedding in our budget. His cousin also asked if their kids could sit on their laps and I told FH to tell him no and he understood. I just do not want anyone thinking I gave my family special privileges by letting them bring their children. What would you all do?
I was thinking as RSVPs come in, if we get no's then I would offer those seats to the children. We know all the kids behave very well and know they can get through the ceremony (less than 20 minutes) no problem, we just want to keep the guest count down.
*Sigh*