Re: Kids at your reception

This has become a HUGE issue. We want no kids at all. My FG will leave after she is announced at the reception ( we have an 8PM CH)
FSIL is preggo and will have a 5mnth old with her in addition to her 3 year old son who is our RB-she refuses to leave the baby with anyone and insists that he be at the wedding ( this means the whole day). We would rather this not happen. It is a very very long day. So after much drama on behalf of FSIL-she and her husband have dropped out of the BP and basically told us that they will decide at a later date if they want their son to be our RB-nice huh. I feel so bad for FI and can not belive how selfish FSIL is.

Re: Kids at your reception

At our wedding the only kids were there was the flower girls and the paige boy. On our invites I stated 'No Children Allowed' I did not have any isssues with any of my guests regarding this. My wedding was day wedding also.

Re: Kids at your reception

No children are invited to the wedding. The youngest person coming is my cousin and he is 15. We have a fg and rb, but they're only going to participate in the church. After the church, the parents will bring them home. They've already arranged for childcare. One of my bms from out of town has a newborn and we're trying to figure out what to do with him. I offered to pay a sitter to watch him in the bridal suite. However, I think my friend is going to leave him with her MIL for the weekend.

Re: Kids at your reception

We're having kids, we want the whole family there to celebrate with us. FH's daughter of course (she's jrBM), his neice, and his cousin's kids are invited. My neice (FG) and nephew will def be there and I have a young cousin. There really aren't too many, it'll be fine!

Re: Kids at your reception

No children at our wedding - FH has too many cousins under the age of 16 that if we invited all of them our wedding would turn into romper room - so to make it fair to both sides of the family no FG or RB - which would have been family members on my side...

I never understood why parents would want to take their children to an affair like a wedding...the kids get bored, the parents have to watch over them and can't fully enjoy themselves...I hope that no one responds back that their children are attending also...I will flip the handle

Re: Kids at your reception

Our Nieces & Nephews are our pride & joy... We couldn't see our wedding without them...so we didn't. The youngest we had in our BP & at the reception was 3 practically 4. Then another 4 year old, a 6 year old and a 9 year old. Some teen cousins too. For most of them it was the first wedding they've ever been too. DH & I love knowing they'll have that memory forever.

Now with that said...we didn't include children if they were not family members. My friend mentioned he should have brought his kids...ummm...NO!

Re: Kids at your reception

we are only having my RB,FG, and 2 jr ushers at the reception, 3 of em are my nephews and niece and RB is one of my best friends sons so is like my nephew....we didnt want a lot of children running around plus if we invited one persons child we had to invite another

Re: Kids at your reception

I didnt want kids, but it winds up that I am having quite a few.

My FH has two sons from a previous marriage..they are in the wedding along with 2 other children. MY FH has two small nieces, they are invited.

I am inviting children of all of our OOT guests---I think its wrong not to. You can't expect them to fly in for a wedding and leave their kids behind.

Re: Kids at your reception

When my brother got married last year, some of my neices and nephews were very upset that they didn't get invited. Some didn't care at all. They are old enough to know that it is a celebration and they weren't a part of it.

I am inviting them all (13) to my wedding because they are family. There will also be OOTers who have kids that will inevitably be there because they don't have family here to babysit. We are there family. We would rather have the kids there then not have the family there.

Re: Kids at your reception

i am not having any children @ my wedding. i love kids - but i do not like them @ weddings. sorry to be so crass....JMO

one thing i will tell you - is you cannot let one guest bring children and other guests not - that would be an insult. you either have to decide whether you want all or none.

good luck!!

Re: Kids at your reception

We're having kids at the reception but only family. 4 of the kids that will be there are in my bridal party, the rest are my cousin's kids. We're hiring someone to be a nanny for the day if necessary. Age breakdown is:
One 3 yr old
Three 5 yr olds
Two 8 yr olds.

Re: Kids at your reception

Out of my 20 first cousins, I am one of the youngest and I practically raised all of their kids since I was always around. I couldn't imagine my wedding day without them! Same thing goes for FH, and so we're inviting them all, but we're not inviting friends' kids and kids of distant relatives.

Re: Kids at your reception

I am having kids.... I have a lot of first cousins with Kids.. so I am happy to have them.. It is pricy but what am I going to do..

Re: Kids at your reception

The youngest person that is coming is 16, and I don't really consider her a 'kid'. We decide not to have a FG or RB, so we don't have to invite any little kids. If we started inviting the little ones we'd have 9 kids under the age of 6 running around. That would get too crazy.

Re: Kids at your reception

My mom wanted no kids at all! But FH and I love our nieces and nephews and feel our wedding would be missing something without them there. I can't wait to dance with my Godsons!

Re: Kids at your reception - Long Post

The only heart ache in our wedding planning was the arguement over not having everyones' kids at the reception. Yes, we are have my sisters 3 1/2 girl, and my FH's brother's 8 1/2 boy, and 5 1/2 girl, and they volunteered to leave the 6 month old with a sitter. My FH and I are very close to all these kids.

My FH's father and his BM and a few other relatives on the FH side were in an uproar b/c we're not inviting any other children. The BM and his sister are my FH's first cousins. They are coming from out of state. The have a 3 yr girl and 6 month old. The sister has a 5 yr boy and 8 yr girl. If we invite them, they we will have to invite my 1st cousin's kids who are also coming out of state. That would add another 5 yr boy, and 2 1/2 girl. Then I have 2 more first cousins with a 3 yr girl and an infant. We are having approx. 100 people for a Sunday afternoon wedding. We finally broke down and invited the 8 yr old girl, but told them absolutely not the 5 yr boy.

I don't even know these people, and my FH hasn't seen them in a few years. Even though this is an afternoon wedding, we will not risk our $40,000 wedding (which is well over budget) on the chance that the kids will jump all over the already small dance floor discouraging people from dancing, or chasing each other b/c that's what kids do, or screaming, or crying, or just plain ole getting in the way. We have volunteered to hire a babysitter who can watch their kids at the hotel (which they were thankless for by the way).

We will have a nanny for my sister's kid who will whisk her away if she gets cranky. Even the best behaved children are unpredictable.

So in order to get everyone to calm down about their kids not being invited, I read every expert wedding etiquette books and articles (e.g. Emily Post), made copies and emailed them. And guess what, we actually got an apology from the BM for his bad behavior. And for the rest of those complaining about there monsters not getting invited, shame on them....they are being extremely self-centered... this is not their wedding day, and it's definately not their kids party either.

p.s. Later on I recalled that the BM's little girl got kicked out of preschool when she was only 2 1/2 yrs for randomly punching another boy in the face.

Re: Kids at your reception

no kids for us. If I invite them it would be a day care center over 30 of them!!!!

Re: Kids at your reception

I feel children under 12 do not belong at a wedding. In my family we don't invite our second cousins because they are way to young. I have my neice and nephew's as well as my FH's two little cousins in the party. My side will leave after they announce the bridal party. Who wants to babysit and try to enjoy yourself at a wedding.

Re: Kids at your reception

Ah...this a tough one for me too.
I have ONLY one first cousin-hes 12, but his parents prob wont even come to the wedding ( ANOTHer story).

FH has 3 little cousins, they are 12, 6 and 5.
We don't know whether to invite them or not-but we both dont want kids at our wedding.
His first cousins have 4 kids-they are 10, and 2-they are goin to be P!ssed they arent invited, but oh well, too bad...
Bc if we invite them, then we have to invite the cousins on my side and more on his n it will be like 40 lil kids running around and i do NOT want that...
so im really not sure what to do w/his first cousins-to invite them or not?
i have no clue...need help!!!!!!

Re: Kids at your reception

we decided to have no kids at the wedding aside from DH's niece and my 13 yr old cousin. it caused major drama, but ultimately, it was our wedding. we paid, we decided. and we are SO glad we didn't!