So whether you choose to have children at your wedding or not turns out to be a very passionate subject. The poll we did recently sparked an immense amount of conversation (which was great!) so let’s go through the headliners…
To get straight to the point, 32% of you were in the no way camp.
I have to say that on the whole, I think it was split largely by whether you have children or not. It appears that those of you that have children think they should definitely be included and those of you that don’t, would quite like to keep it child free.
I totally understand this. When we got married we only had children from the immediate family there. We were restrained on numbers at our venue but to be quite frank, we just didn’t want other kids there. We weren’t at that stage yet and couldn’t see the appeal. Now we have children, I’d definitely include them, especially if we were at a venue like Brook Farm. They’re not as scary and disruptive as you might think or maybe we’re just so used to them now we don’t notice but they actually bring a lot of fun, and happiness to the day. I mean look at the dude above? Tell me his headband/sweet stash and upside down binoculars don’t make you smile?
So what happens when children aren’t invited…? Some of you pointed out that it is actually quite nice for parents to have a break and leave the children with a babysitter (often the grandparents!). It is far easier to look after the kids in terms of feeding, naps etc when they’re at home but it also means the parents can let loose without having to worry about the little ones.
On the flip side, others told me just how weird it felt to be at a wedding without your kids and if you don’t have any babysitters on hand you have to miss out on the whole day.
It is a tough one but I think it is pretty much like everything else. You have to go with your gut feeling for what YOU want on your wedding day. I certainly wouldn’t have tried to convince the child free me to invite kids to our wedding – I don’t think I’d have listened. I absolutely knew I wanted my nephews there but why would I want any other kids?! It was just not on our radar. It would be a totally different story now though – I would love to have my wedding at Brook Farm with our kids and everyone else’s running around enjoying it all. I think it would be a far more relaxed affair.
You know the drill. It’s your wedding, your way so you do what you want. If you decide not to invite children the parents usually will find a babysitter and still come along and have some fun. However, if you decide that you are going to invite children then I think we should take a look at a few ideas for how you keep them entertained and what you would do differently and that is going to be a whole new post….