Invitation question

Hi... You could say....

X and X would love to invite Y and Y to an evening reception to celebrate their marriage. Details of time and venue. Sadly, space restrictions mean we are unable to invite children.

You would also be very welcome to join us at St VvVs church at x o'clock for the ceremony.

I think this is pretty common for Church weddings My friend did it and the majority actually came to the ceremony and then dissapeared and returned for the evening

I think she just put 'All guests are welcome to join us for the ceremony at Blah Blah Church, which begins at 12 noon'

Ok,

Our invites are already made up so we are adding an extra slip of paper in to inform people of this.

How does this sound?

Dear Guests,

Whilst you have received an invitation to our evening reception, we would love to extend a warm welcome to you to join us for our marriage ceremony earlier in the day if you would like to. Our marriage ceremony is being held at 12.00pm at xxxxxxx. Unfortunately due to limited space we are unable to accommodate children at the evening reception however if you do wish to attend the Marriage Ceremony children are most welcome in Church.

Let me know what you think.

Kirsty

I think what you have put is fine and most people will be glad to come to the church.

One thing though - is it truly down to space restrictions that their children aren't invited? If not then you probably shouldn't put that - after all how much space do kids take up. As it's the evening I doubt people would expect to bring children anyway but I would be much more inclined to be honest and say "For the evening reception we have chosen to have an adult only affair to allow everyone a night off of drinking and dancing"

I am not having any kids day or night and put this in our invites under additional info - " We have opted for a "no kiddies" event so please relax, let your hair down and celebrate by having a drink or two or three..."

I know this is pretty controversial on here but it was my choice and having been to wedding in December that a small child cried the whole way through, ceremony and reception I am happy with our decision.

Best of luck with whatever your decide. xx

Agree that what you've put sounds fine. I think it's a really lovely idea to ask people to the ceremoney even if they can't come to the day. I think most people understand that costs & numbers are a consideration but will welcome the chance to be part of your actual ceremony.

We are only having 2 small children at our wedding and only because they are my OH's grandsons (He's a very young grandad btw!) It's a very personal decision. I like the company of children but would not want great numbers of them at my wedding. My children are grown up but there were occasions in the past where invites did not include them and i respected that some people choose not to have children there.

Is it ok to share your wording?! ive been wracking my brain how to put this sensitively as we are the same (apart from the church bit!). for us it is a budget and space issue, because i cant justify giving a space to children (ones who i am not close to or have ever met) over adult friends who we are trying to squeeze in.