Babies at the ceremony?

Is anyone having problems with guests wanting to bring infants to the wedding .... specifically the ceremony? I have my sister who wants to bring my five month old niece to the cermony and I told her I didn`t want her there because she may cry and distrupt the ceremony and now my sister is all bent out of shape. Am I being unreasonable?

Babies at the ceremony?

My flowers girl's mom is pregnant and expecting in August. We are getting married in February and told the mother tonight that she will need to find a babysitter for the baby. The flower girl who will be three is the only child that will be there. There are to many children from both of our sides and I feel that if she brings the infant we will have to extend the invitation for everyone to bring the babies. Am I wrong????

Our plans...

We are only having two children at our wedding. The flowergirl, my niece, who will be 4 1/2 years old, and the ringbearer, by nephew, who will be 1 1/2 years old. Obviously it`s a bit much to expect my nephew to be up and dancing all day and night, so, since his mom, my sister-in-law, is my matron of honor, we`re going to have a babysitter come along and stay in the bridal suite with him. We`ll bring a playpen for him and lots of his toys. Maybe even a tv/vcr combo so he could watch his favorite movies. And if my niece gets tired, she`ll have somewhere to retreat to as well. For her, we plan on having an activity table set up in the reception room for whatever she wants to bring, like puzzles, books or etcha-sketch, and plan on having her bring her own 'special' camera for her own unique look at our day. It`s always a tough call with the guest list both regarding kids and even which adults should come, but no matter how you plan your wedding, there is always going to be someone who isn`t happy about something, no matter what it is, food, music, invites, table seating, or any number of other things. Do what`s best for you and your husband-to-be and try to be confident that you`ve made the right choices. As hard as it is to remember, this is YOUR day, not your guests` day. No one will or can possibly try to cherish it they way you two will. And nothing should spoil what would make it special for you. (If only it were that easy!)

What we are doing

My fiance has 15 nieces and nephews and another on the way - the ages range from 12 mos. to 23...we have decided that no one under 12 is invited to the reception, however, we have not set any rules about the church - we believe it is a day for family, but little ones can be disruptive at the reception and we would like to keep it kidless. I'm hoping that if any of the younger ones come to the church (which I think would be nice for photos) that if they get noisy, their parents will be smart enough to take them outside..I agree that it is your day and you need to make decisions best for you and your fiance.

We were discussing this topic last night.

After attend my FI third birthday yesterday I got a little crazy about kids at our reception. My FI has 12 nieces and nephews, 5 are under 9 yrs old, all but one are from out of town. Bottom line - he wants them at our reception. Kel, we came up with the same idea about using the bridal suite as a nursery. I am going back to Watermill to check it out on Wed. We never actually saw it. For the ceremony do you thinks it ok to put a note in the program to remind parents to remove crying babies? Or is that kind of rude?

We were discussing this topic last night.

Fran, I don`t think it is rude at all to ask parents to remove crying babies. I am going one step further and asking all parents to NOT bring babies to the ceremony ... including my five month old niece. This is the most important day of my life and if nobody can understand that and there are hurt feelings, well that`s just too bad! I was going to allow my niece in the ceremony, but after reading these posts, I`m sticking to my guns! No babies!

We were discussing this topic last night.

I think it's kind of rude. People know that babies can be disruptive. I think they know to take them outside, they definitely don't need a note, it's common courtesy.

We were discussing this topic last night.

I think that is very nice of you to allow children in the ceremony at all. You are never going to please anyone, however. this is your wedding and people should respect your wishes. (Try to blame it on the Priest, and say he will not allow children to disrupt the ceremony.) My nephew will be 3 at the time of my wedding. He will walk down the aisle and then the babysitter will take him to another room. My sister understands how important this day is to me.

We were discussing this topic last night. Correction

I just read my post Ha HA - It was my FI niece's thrid birthday not his.. I am sure you all figured it was something like that. Anyway thanks for the input I do feel better about it today. There were just two little ones at the party yesterday that were not having a good day and last night I got kind of crazy about it.

Ceremony options

After reading through the latest responses to this thread, I also thought for those still considering allowing babies or young children at their ceremony, but were a little concerned about disruption, you might want to check into whether your church has a nursery. If they do, maybe the church could have it staffed for the time of the ceremony in case parents realize their child is having a bad day. This way, the parents could have the children stay in the nursery while the parents return for the remainder of the ceremony. Just an idea.

Our plans

Personally, I love the idea of children being at my ceremony and reception (if the parents want to bring them). I think that the children add something more special to the day. As long as the parents are curtious and bring the kids outside of the room if they are crying a lot, then personally I dont have a problem with it. I can understand how the parents feel if their child is not permitted at the ceremony or reception. If it was a money issue, then I`d probably understand. But I understand how the parents might want to be the ones who decide if their child is well behaved enough to attend the wedding. Just my opinion...