Why did you have a child-free wedding?

To save money. We were already over invites with just adults that we couldn't afford to also include children. We also didn't really want a bunch of children running all over our formal wedding where alcohol would be served.

We have chosen to have a child-free waiting for many reasons.

1. It is a destination wedding in the French Quarter New Orleans, which is overall not an appropriate place for children. Literally every single event we have planned and nearly every venue we are going to requires patrons to be 21 or over.

2. The French quarter is pretty much party central, and we wanted our guests to party freely with us – not sit in a hotel room with their children.
3. I have been to 3 separate weddings that were completely ruined by children
4. I totally respect people who have made the decision to procreate, but personally, I do not enjoy children. I do not have any children, and no plan to ever have them. They make me feel nervous, awkward & annoyed. Like I said, I fully respect my family & friends decisions to have kids; it’s just not my jam!
(Side note: I was really nervous about how our guests with younger children were going to react to the no kids rule. But every single friend and family member of mine who has children- and all but one of my FH’s family & friends with kids - are super stoked to have an adult-fun weekend in NOLA without their kids! Most of them said they wouldn’t have brought them even if they HAD been invited LOL)

This was moot for me because I had a very small wedding of immediate family and a few friends only, and no one in that group had any kids. But if we had had a bigger wedding, it would have been child-free based on my past experience attending hundreds of weddings (as a catering server and as a guest).

So many vows cried through, buffets with food strewn about/wasted, and cakes with fingers stuck in the icing. All by kids. I also don't like when little kids take over the dance floor, making it dangerous for the adults to dance at all. Mostly I have seen kids cranky, bored, and tired by the time dinner is over. I just think it's too much to ask them to behave at an event not designed for them.

I know some people like to come on these threads and say they have seen way more bad behavior by adults at weddings, but that definitely is not MY experience, and we all make decisions based on our own experience.

My fiance and I are doing a child-free wedding (with the exception of kids in the wedding party) for a few reasons: it would add 20+ people to our count (and we were already struggling with limiting our guest list to meet the max allowed at the venue, we'd rather invite more of our friends that we wouldn't have been able to invite if we included kids), we wanted our guests to enjoy a child-free night out, and my fiance didn't think that it was a good idea to allow kids at our wedding with an open bar.

I see weddings as a date night for couples or even a night out for single people. Anytime I have been to a wedding with kids or any night time party with kids I feel I need to filter myself and I can fully have fun especially when there is alcohol. Not that I want to be the drunk hot mess but I wanna enjoy. I see your perspective and choosing to not have children at a wedding does not mean that someone loves kids less or doesn't at all. If I were having a bigger wedding I would make it adults only 1 - for cost purposes and 2 - so it is adult time. I feel a lot in life is kids friendly and nothing wrong with a celebration being adults only.

I don’t mean to offend anyone, but I do not enjoy being around kids. I’m always nervous at weddings with kids on the dance floor. I feel like they are either getting drinks spilled on them or someone is going to trip on them. Plus they scream and cry during the wedding. Parents with kids have to leave the reception early and it should be a night without them.

I only had a child free wedding for the ceremony. Basically I had a nursery with an attendant there to watch kids. I just didn’t want the off chance of kids being disruptive during

We are having a black tie wedding with all the bells and whistles. The wedding only begins at 5:30pm (ceremony) and will carry through til midnight and will involve a lot of dancing and a lot of alcohol.

In our circumstances I don't think it would be appropriate for children to attend. Our venue offers discounted childrens' prices however our wedding is already costing us a bomb and I personally don't want to pay an extra few thousand for chicken nuggets and tantrums. I love children but on our special day the only children in attendance will be the 2-3 kids in the bridal party.

I'm an elementary school teacher and LOVE children but I wanted to have a day that didn't have children trying to make it about them. Selfish, maybe but we wanted a formal event and it allowed our guests to have a date night that they could enjoy. I love my nephews dearly but mom insisted she wanted to enjoy the event without the kiddos and I was sold 👍
Also we saved a lot of money not inviting the 30ish kids 🤷‍♀️


(Not to mention having a corona wedding, kids would add more chances at spreading)

We are having a child free wedding because we will be serving alcohol. And quite frankly I don’t believe people will feel comfortable drinking or wanting to let loose with kids there. Plus, children honestly waste food. And our reception will end at 11pm so most kids will be miserable and tired there anyway

We’re having a child free wedding for a lot of the reasons that have been previously mentioned. Our kids (From previous relationships) are older & we don’t want young kids there. I’ve been to a lot of weddings that have been ruined by kids because the parents didn’t watch them. We want the parents to have a good time without worrying about what their kids are getting into. The cost was a factor as well.

Our wedding is child free (except flower girl and ring bearer which are leaving a little after ceremony) because our venue is 100 or less on guest count here in Texas to still be able to have the wedding. If we had children attend we would have had to postpone. And also to save money, I’m sure our guest all want a night out on their own also!😁

Because our venue had a maximum of 40 including bride & groom. It was more important to us to have our adult family and friends in attendance versus one friend’s 5 children.
And honestly, even as a parent, I wouldn’t bring my daughter to a wedding with me even if it was child friendly. I don’t want to have to parent on a rare evening out, I’d much rather be able to enjoy the adult time.

There are so many reasons but mostly:
1. It saves a lot of money (our venue has a smaller capacity) — we didn’t give many people plus ones because all our guests know each other
2. The parents can actually enjoy and be present for the ceremony, eat dinner & cake peacefully and to their hearts desire, and let loose at the reception — they are our friends and we want it to be as fun as possible for everyone 3. The venue is fancy and not a baby/kid-proofed area so it’s safer for them and our security deposit
Disclaimer: I love kids — I have siblings that are 2 and 4 and I love them to death BUT the best experiences I’ve personally had at weddings (as a guest) were when it was 18+

1. Covid executive orders limiting guests so did not want to waste a number on a 3 year old who could care less.
2. We spent $300/plate and kids were $175; so to save money as well!
3. I personally dislike going to weddings with children because I always relate the wedding to a venue hall or cheaper scaled reception environment. Just my opinion... Best wishes! 💕

My wedding will include kids, but my brother’s wedding did not. There would not have been that many children, but they wanted an adults only vibe. They wanted a reception that went later into the night and didn’t want the parents to have to leave early. Kids just didn’t fit with what they wanted, and that’s okay.

Like a few here have already said my fiancée and I just don’t like kids that much and don’t plan to have any of our own. We are one of the first couples in our friend group to get married so we don’t have any friends with kids. My cousin is one of the only people I invited who has kids (four!!) and was excited to have a night with her husband when I told her we were having an adult only wedding. So it just wasn’t a big deal for us, I’d much rather allow people to have plus ones so everyone can have someone there that they want to hang out with.

I don’t like children 🤷🏽‍♂️ And I openly don’t care about their children. We are the people everyone calls when they want Adult time or to go on vacation or they want to party and hang out. I find weddings with children wildly inappropriate.

Adding on: two of my BMs are mothers, one is my best friend, the other is my SIL. She was upset that our nephews wouldn’t be there to celebrate but she’ll get over it. Also 5 of my 11 cousins are not invited because they’re not 21 and I’m actually very close with my cousins. If I’m paying $109 per person for 250 people for food and open bar I want people to ENJOY the open bar. I’d rather pay for a plus one than a child

View Quoted Comment Allissa, I just want to clarify your 3rd point. Are you saying you thinking weddings that allow children are cheap? I'm not sure if that's what you mean.