# Kids at the wedding?



## BabiesOneDay

So who's cool with kids at their wedding and who isn't? OH was a bit annoyed when I explained it wasn't a good idea, both because of the extra mouths to feed and because we plan to have a more "fancy" wedding and also an evening one. How are these sorts of things worded on invites besides "No children please" lol. When OH's family alone has a dozen children and counting.. I'm just not willing to pay $60 for an 8 year old that will be bored to death most likely anyway.


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## sleepinbeauty

I'll have children at the wedding. We're having a small outdoor ceremony and maybe rent a space to party or something. My littlest sister is and will be 10. The godkids are 1 and 3 (and will be 2 and 3 then). I will probably let my littlest sister bring her best friend so she has someone her age there.


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## sleepinbeauty

Also, we're going to make our food/ask others to bring too.


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## honeybee2

We have 9 kids at the ceremony. I didnt want ANY chilldren at all apart from my brothers and sisters but some babies cant leave thir mothers so we've had to invite them


Dont get me wrong, children do make a wedding in most cases- but our wedding is in a castle and i kinda wanted it to be a grown up affair where adults can kick back their heels and not have to worry about looking after children etc. Plus its £80 per room based on 2 adults sharing and kids cost an extra £15 per child so it wont be cheap for the guests. I suppose to me, children at a wedding is an extra responsibility. Also it scares me that my wedding co ordinator said that any accidents concerning children- the wedding will be closed down for health and safety reasons- ouch!!!


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## booflebump

We will have 15 kids at our wedding. My brother got married last year and they were all fab - danced away to the band all night and behaved impeccably so we dont have any concerns about it. The bigger ones are so excited about the wedding, bless their hearts x


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## FierceAngel

its totally down to you.. we havent even considered not inviting children (family wise) our venue is free for under 4s, under 16's are half price for the main adult price (there is no allocatioin of booze for them) or those under 10 can have a childs meal (sausage chips etc for £10 per head..

xx


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## honeybee2

ye- we are considering kids meals also!!! Plus we have put 10 jugs of juice out for the kids so their parents dont need to think about spending money on them in the night as they get thirsty! 

At the end of the day- i do think kids can be an 'extra' responsibility for guests when they are trying to enjoy themselves which is why i suppose its our responsibility (well i certainly think its mine) to try and relieve the these strains for them to make it easier. i couldnt ever imagine my wedding without my brothers and sisters but i know how hard it can be for my mum especially!!!!


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## BabiesOneDay

Good ideas girls. I'll keep them in mind. We are having some children, I should have specified.. flowergirl and ring barrer obviously, plus anyone with an infant at that time, and since we are inviting aunts, uncles, and first cousins only.. the few that happen to be teenagers are coming. In regards to other children though, we've decided against it.


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## kitty1987

We will have 20-25 kids and i cannot wait, kids make a party lol and a party is what I want. The venue is throwing in free squash for the kids so they will have drinks and were just having a buffet so they can pick and choose what they want!


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## tmr1234

we will have 13 kids from1 month -15yrs they are all well behaved and i wouldnt have it any outher way


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## MissMummyMoo

Its totally up to you.

We invited everyones kids and apart from one or two ( :rolleyes: ) they made our wedding. Caitlin was still partying after we went to bed :rofl:

We barely seen our kids all day tbh they were off with all the other family memebers most of the time.

We did have a few kids who we ended up having to keep an eye on as there parents kept disappearing but in the end we started to ignore them as they weren't our kids to look after :shrug:

If you don't want kids don't have them. But you will have to be prepared for people to ask you why etc espeically if you are having some but not others x


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## Sophiiie

there'll be quite a few kids at our wedding, because there's a lot of kids in our close family. we've got Charlie now, my OH's brother has young kids, my dad has young kids and my sister has young kids lol. I think if it was just a case of the only kids being with distant relatives, then we might not have considered making extra arrangments for the children, but with there being 8 kids just in our immediate family, we've asked the venue about different meals for the kids, and they've been really good about it & it's even costing us less £ per head x


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## Midnight_Fairy

I am only having my own, my sisters kids and my Bro and sister in law. Thats it x


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## BabiesOneDay

Midnight_Fairy said:


> I am only having my own, my sisters kids and my Bro and sister in law. Thats it x

So have you found that other people are questioning why they can't bring theirs then?


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## Gwizz

My boss went to her nieces wedding last year and they had a big expensive do and asked for no children - apparently half the people including close family members refused to attend if their kids couldn't so just be warned of people maybe being a bit off.

But remember its YOUR day and you are entitled to have what you want so dont let family dictate to you if they do :)

xxx


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## honeybee2

I'm sorry but if I had children I would totally respect that I couldnt bring my children if I was requested politely not too! 

It may be (like in my case) the venue is very cautious about accidents- my venue is a castle and had deep hills and ditches and there are a few suits of armour around etc and ANY accident concerning a child will result in the wedding being cancelled on the spot- and that scares the s*it out of me! 

I have a few immediate family members that are children but at least i know my mum is extra protective and wont let them out of her sight!

If you have 6 months notice with an invitation- its not a big deal to find a family member to offer child care- surely?

much love all xx


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## lozzy21

I dont see how having children at a wedding is an "extra" responsibility for guests, they are there children, its there basic responsability to look after them :shrug:

If they want to find a babysitter so they can have a drink then fine but i would be a bit offended if i were told i was invited but my child wasent, its like inviting me but not OH.

But its your wedding so its your choice but be prepared for people not to come.


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## Dream.A.Dream

There'll be kids at mine. Obviously my little boy, then my friend's LO, another friend's two LO's and then OH's cousins. Then I thought if we had those kids wasn't fair to say no kids to anyone else, so all the kids of OH's colleagues are coming too. 

We have around 10 from 6month to 15 years :)


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## honeybee2

lozzy21 said:


> I dont see how having children at a wedding is an "extra" responsibility for guests, they are there children, its there basic responsability to look after them :shrug:
> 
> If they want to find a babysitter so they can have a drink then fine but i would be a bit offended if i were told i was invited but my child wasent, its like inviting me but not OH.
> 
> But its your wedding so its your choice but be prepared for people not to come.

Ye, i totally understand what you are saying :flower: but Ive had so many people come up to me asking if they HAVE to bring their children as they'd rather put their feet up and not have to worry about them while having a good time. It does sound a bit selfish I know, but I suppose it all boils down tot he fact that even mums and dads can have days off (or something along those lines). Also I think because we have limited numbers and a big family we just cant afford to space my friend's children unfortunately. 
I would love to invite all the kids- but I'm not because a) im scared about having the wedding shut down because of accidents b) we cant really afford it anyway and c) i would like to give parents the opportunity to have the night off! :hugs:


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## BabiesOneDay

I agree too. I'd rather not have my children at a wedding with me as I want to enjoy myself, and drink lol! Older children aren't as big a deal, it's younger ones. I understand where some people are coming from, but also, looking back at any weddings I have ever been to... the weddings that had children were generally earlier in the day and held at less expensive venues. I realized the other day, we are planning to have a pretty elite wedding. The castles we are looking at aren't cheap, especially food costs etc. OH and I wouldn't take our kids with us to any of these places for dinner. They would def be places we'd go alone and hire a sitter. There are some restaurants etc you just don't take small children too. So why shouldn't the same apply with weddings? If it's at an upscale, not so kid friendly place, I'd rather not have my kid there with me or they are prone to be bored and need me to entertain them.


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## Dream.A.Dream

My venue is pretty upscale/expensive but my LO will definitely be there! xx


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## buttonnose82

we had children at our wedding, we had alot of people traveling a long way to come so felt it only right to invite their children too and well as family is important too us it seemed wrong to say no children. we spoke to the venue and managed to get free food & drink for all under 6's (we have about 15 of them) so saved heaps there, we had a table magician at the wedding breakfast that went down a storm with not only the kids but also the adults ...... he was amazing!


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## honeybee2

awww that sounds lush buttonnose.


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## BabiesOneDay

Well of course out LO's will be there, and neice and nephew, but aside from that, we feel younger children aren't appropriate or "worth the cost" for lack of another way to put it. If we allow kids, they'd all be second and third cousins and would add about 25 people onto our guest list! Plus, nearly every castle we've looked at to have the wedding, rooms are booked on double occupancy and cost extra for children


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## maddiwatts19

we're inviting our 2, my friends new born, a 4 year old, 3 year old and OH's 14 nieces and nephews that age from a few months to 15! but children aged 4-12 are having the childrens meals and under 4's are free for food! we would love them all to come, but totally understand that the parents might prefer to not bring the children so they can stay.


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## Feltzy

We're just inviting our kids and nieces/nephews. Our package is for a set number of guests and every extra child costs £35 so if we invited all our friends kids it would cost a lot more. The only child that isn't family that we are inviting is my MOH's daughter but she will be 9 at the time and our wedding is on her birthday so I thought it would be unfair to not invite her.


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## chelseaharvey

Were having kids at our wedding, i think there will be 30 in total. We will have 2 of our own so cant really say no. 

We are going to say to those with kids that if they dont want to bring them they dont have to i know some like to take the opportunity to use a wedding as some times off & leave them with grandparents etc

I know every time we go to a wedding we dont take our son as its less stress on us & give us some alone time to enjoy with our friends


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## smelly07

We are inviting kids of course, i dont think its fair not to, i feel weddings are a family occasion, plus some people may not be able to come if they couldnt get childcare etc and they dont have to bring them if they dont want to. We are giving them a choice.


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## Lisa84

I didn't want loads of kids at my wedding at first but realised that if i invited a few (the ones we really wanted like my godsons) then it wouldn't be fair not to invite them all.

We have decided we are going to get a children's entertainer and maybe have a seperate area that the kids can have like party food and be entertained during the wedding breakfast x


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## discoclare

I'm not a bride to be yet! But I am going to a wedding in 2 weeks and children are not allowed. It's a small wedding but I was surprised my DD wasn't invited as it's my dad's wedding! So they aren't inviting their own grandchildren! Personally, I am finding it a pain as I have never left LO before and am very nervous about leaving her with a childminder. In addition I breastfeed on demand so need to make sure I have enough expressed milk to leave with the childminder too. Still it's my dad's wedding and I will be there (even if I am a nervous wreck about my daughter all day!).


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## honeybee2

wow- i would never ever not consider inviting close family children like own children, cousins, grandchildren etc but what I mean is- I cant invite my friends children.


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## DonnaBallona

we were at a wedding on friday with our two children...my fiancee was an usher so i had my 21 month old daughter and 6month old son to contend with alone! i missed the entire ceremony because Brooke was noisy and i didnt want to disrupt it, the meal was ruined for me because the kids were bored and to be honest :blush: it was blinking awful.

some friends of ours had left their 10 month old with her parents and i was positively green with envy at how much fun they were having! we are having 12 (i think?) children from 2 months to 4 at our wedding...but i wont be suprised if some parents dont bring them now!! its made me greatly rethink our entertaintment options to keep them amused...lol!

xx


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