Children or No Children at your wedding?

Maybe you’ve decided that you want your wedding to be an adult only affair and that is fine! Just be sure to reach out to those parents that are invited well in advance to give them time to find a babysitter. Also, make sure that your invitations are very specific so there is no confusion. Hopefully they will see this as an opportunity to have a fun night out free of kids.

Or, maybe you have quite a few children who are important in your life and you can’t imagine them not being at your wedding but the thought of having to entertain/worry about them is not so appealing. Well, here are a few ideas to help keep the little ones busy and occupied at the wedding. Although I am not a mom, this comes from someone who had probably 10-15 little ones at my own wedding and I have also seen countless weddings with kiddos at them.

1. Maybe the venue has a room that you can use for children only. Hire a babysitter for the night of the wedding and pop in some Disney movies. Allow parents to use this room as they please. Maybe the parents want the kids to be with them through the ceremony and dinner but then they want to dance the night away without worrying about keeping a close eye on their kids all night, so they use the daycare room after dinner. It is a great option for the guests you want to be at your wedding that have little ones that will be attending. Make sure you have enough babysitters for the number of children you anticipate!
2. The two hardest moments of the entire wedding for children to sit through is the ceremony and the toasts/speeches. If you have little ones in your ceremony, rehearsing your ceremony is important to get them a little bit more conformable with what they will be doing on the day of the wedding! On the day of, they may not do exactly what you practiced, but IT’S OK! Whatever they do to get down the aisle (or not) will be cute! Make sure their parents or a trusted adult can be with them prior to walking down the aisle to keep them occupied with toys until it’s go time. The worst situation is when you have a young child waiting in line to walk down the aisle and they are surrounded by people they don’t know too well…panic sets in and it shouldn’t be the job of the wedding party and especially not the bride to settle them down just seconds before going down the aisle! Also, make sure their parent is able to sit on the aisle or front row so if need be, they can pick up the child and slip out to avoid any temper tantrum from happening during the ceremony.
3. At an outdoor venue, bring some outdoor games to put near the reception so the kids can go outside and play and let out some energy.
4. Consider providing kids meals. Typically, caterers can provide these if you ask in advance.
5. Put together children’s activity packs. Coloring books, crayons, stickers, puzzles, etc. This is perfect for keeping kids occupied when sitting at their table.
6. Lastly, If you plan to have children at your wedding, get the party started as early as possible! By the time dancing starts, kids are usually already exhausted and quickly approaching their bed time which means that their parents will have to leave shortly also. If you are able to start earlier and start dancing earlier, I would suggest it! This way, the kids can have some fun on the dance-floor and their parents can enjoy the reception before having to go home and get the kids in bed.

Image Credit:

1. Hopie Dalton Photography 2. Sarah Elizabeth Photography 3. Ashley Dorton Photography 4. Pearly Kate Photography 5. Jo’ Lyss Photography