Weddingbee Blog

I’d love to have a no kids policy at our wedding. My friend, who just had a baby, brought her baby to a wedding recently and all of the pictures are of her and her sister in law w/their children glued to them. There is not a single picture of her as an individual. All the bridesmaids pictures, there’s A stuck like glue to D’s hip. I am not saying the kids are not adorable, it just changes the event from a grown up event to a different type of event.
That said, my FH has two children (ages 11 and 13) who will be my attendents and they are Awesome people who I love spending time with and who are really interesting people. Also, his family doesn’t believe in babysitters so no one would come if it were an adult only affair (and his girls will be much happier w/their cousins). So, it’s going to be a different kind of wedding. And that’s fine. But truly, if I had my choice (and my FH didn’t already have two daughters - that just changes everything completely - it’s a package deal) things would be different.

A note to your note:

I threw a hissy fit a week before the wedding when then FI tells me that one of the groomsmen is bringing his 6 year old daughter. We would have four other small kids there that are family but no other children of guests are invited. Who would watch this girl while her dad is in the wedding? How boring for her to be sitting there during the ceremony! What if she gets scared being left alone while the guys are doing pictures?

I was not happy and expressed that for a couple of days. But I couldn’t do anything about it. I wanted to worry about this little girl being happy but I figured that it was her dad’s responsiblity in the end. I hope she would be ok.

Skip the reception: This girl held hands and danced with my three year old niece the entire night. They danced through the garter toss and bouquet toss, during the speeches they asked when the music would start again, my niece cried when the little girl left. If it wasn’t for her coming to the wedding, I’m sure my sister or her husband would have had to leave the reception early to take her to bed.

Sometimes those unexpected (and uninvited) guests are a blessing.

Wow, that is crazy! But it sounds like it worked out.

We had a kid-friendly policy, but people seemed to be kind of pushy about it. It was weird.

Even though I specifically addressed invitations to “The BlanketlyBlank Family,” some people felt compelled to write stuff like, “we are bringing our 20 kids, hope that’s OK!” Well, duh, it’s OK-we invited them.

It sort of felt rude because I think they didn’t understand they were invited, but said they were bringing them whether we wanted them not. It was a non-issue, but you know, rude.

That’s horrible….I guess if you have no feelings about your family and exceptions like that don’t matter. I’ll probably get flamed for saying this, but if your family a situation like above and you are going to be happy if they end up showing up….don’t be crude and tell them not to come.

you know something I hate this!! Because my family is pulling the same crap with me and my FH! But we have the perfect all around reason for everyone ” the venue does not allow children under the age of 21 because of the open bar” and thats it.

It’s amazing how pushy some people are about their kids! My fiance and I are having a black-tie, evening wedding, and children are not invited. But since it’s a mini-destination (San Diego, we live 5 hours away) for many of our guests, we are providing child care during the wedding. That way they can make it a family trip, but not have to worry about bringing a nanny or finding random sitters. We haven’t sent out the invitations yet, but hopefully that will alleviate some of the no-kid” issues!

well i certainly wouldn’t be taking advice from Bob, since it sounds like he pretty insensitive. In fact I sort of find this whole post offensive.. making light of someone with cancer and being shot.. It just seems mean and not funny at all.

I have to say that I choked on my cheerios reading this…. perhaps my dry sense of humor is to blame. I completely get Bob’s decision, as heartless as it may be. Yes, weddings are about love and family and togetherness… but let’s cut to the bottom line… they are also about head counts and trimming the fatty guest list as well- and kids are just the easiest way to do this…. a lot of times it can be hard to have an “adult party” with those cute little tyrants running loose… open bar, lots of stairs, a 5 story atrium and roof-top dancing is enough to make us say “no kids… no exceptions”