Here I go again with the difficult topics of planning a wedding. It's all about decision, decisions, decisions...and here's a TOUGH ONE! Read along my brides and tells me what you think. It took me a while to write this post because it's a very touchy subject and I wanted to make sure I said as best as I can.
One of the wonderful things about weddings is that they can bring many generations together under one roof. On the other hand, you may not be delighted to have screaming infants punctuating your vows, or paying for even the most adorable Shirley Temple clone to take up a seat at your reception.
Whether to invite children to your wedding is one of the more-emotional issues you may face during your premarital meanderings. As you may have noticed, people can get positively fierce when it comes to their little darlings. So what are you choices and, after you make your decisions, how do you impart them most graciously? After you have made your decision, be gracious but firm when people call and ask if their child not being included in the invitation was an oversight.
Specifying an age cut-off is difficult. If you have young ladies and gentlemen involved in your ceremony as junior ushers and bridesmaids, they'll undoubtedly be crushed if they aren't invited to the reception. What's more, depending on your families, you may be pressured to invite other relatives of the same age if you are including these kids. And for an evening reception, trying to have any children whisked away at their witching hour without having to bid farewell to their parents is next to impossible. One solution may be to arrange a quiet area adjacent to your reception where this age group can be taken for a nap - under the supervision of a sitter - until their parents are ready to leave.
Banning children at destination weddings is tricky. Many people won't travel without their children, and consequently may refuse your invitation. One way to please everyone is to include children as surrounding events and hire a baby sitter during wedding itself. It's up to you to pick up the tab for this sitter as well as to arrange to have the children in one place, fed, and properly cared for.
Well, like always I ask ALL MY READERS to send a comment and let me know what you think and of course, any questions I will be HAPPY to answer.
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