Kids

We've chosen not to and have mentioned that in the invites if people don't like it then tough. Every wedding I have been to hasn't allowed kids, it's normal these days.

Lots at ours!! About 14! We have lots of nieces and nephews and adding those to the cousins and friends children it ends up a lot! But I couldn't imagine the day without! But that's just our personal feelings!

It it has to be a personal choice- I would never feel obliged to invite (or not invite) any children !

There are hundreds of threads on this. Lots of people think a wedding without kids is hideous. Lots think a wedding with kids is hideous. Strokes for folks n that.

Not having them at ours and it isn't an exaggeration to say it would ruin my day if there were kids there.

I do not have a maternal bone in my body (except towards my Dog!)

Amen to that. Well replace the word dog with cat and you get my views on kids.

My nieces and nephew will be at the ceremony but won't stay for the meal or reception. The majority of our guests don't have young children, only about 4, but there won't be any other children there during the day. Two friends of mine who both have young children (one has a newborn baby who will be 6 months old, one has a child will be 4) have said themselves that they wouldn't bring the kids, I didn't even bring it up. OH has said he is going to subtly suggest to his friends that they get babysitters because it won't be child friendly. I personally wouldn't mind having kids there, I would be especially upset if my nephew and nieces weren't there for the ceremony, but I do think it's better if they are tucked up in bed before the evening reception.

This.
I wouldn't have minded having a few at mine but we hardly know any. However even being a Mum myself, I've seen loads of weddings with a lot of kids there and it seems bedlam. I couldn't handle lots being there and not behaving ?

It's not that I'm not maternal at all, can't wait to have kids....it's just I don't want the hassle of them being there!

i don't have any nieces or nephews, the OH doesn't either as he is an only child, so it will only be cousins children and friends children who wouldn't come.

i don't think its fair in the adults to have to look after the kids, be an opportunity for them to chill out and have a drink!

Only nieces and nephews at ours. Think it would be highly offensive to my sisters if we didnt have the kids there. But no other children of guests are coming. Just our relatives equals 11 kids and that is plenty lol x

I'm going to go against the grain here, I think children make a wedding. It's a day to celebrate love with your family, I couldn't have chosen to reject some of my family just because they weren't full height yet! Surely parents will be responsible for their children, they were at our wedding. But everyone is different, if you only want adults, just make it clear on the invite and be prepared to explain why if anyone takes offence (hopefully no-one will).

I would probably be in a less enthusiasic position if we had any in our family but the youngest relative/friend between us is 22 and my brother and H's sister share my views on children (good job my Mum isn't fussed about being a grandma!) so other than 1 newborn amongst friends there aren't any kids to invite.

I seem to have selected a group of friends who aren't feeling the need to procreate yet, which bearing in mind we are both 30 next year is no mean feat!

I couldn't imagine our wedding without kids! I have 4 nephews who are looking forward to running round the dance floor with their ties round their heads! If they weren't invited I don't think my SIL's would be very happy and not come either!

But if you don't have a kids in your immediate family then I don't blame you for not inviting kids!

No-one in my group had kids before the age of 33. We are now all 38 and outnumbered by kids by more than two to one. ?

We are inviting children to our wedding (including our own of course!) but letting people know that we would be happy for them to come with or without their children, and that our venue is not mega kid friendly. Lots of our friends are opting to leave them at home. I would actually love to have them all there if we had a venue with a huge garden and accommodation but we don't.

I do have plenty of kids in my immediate family. I just diddnt want them there.

We had 23 kids at our and they were brilliant fun all day!

I just love this statement!!!

100% personal choice. But my personal choice was to have them. We had about 8 2-5 year olds who were thrilled atbour balloon drop. But we are close with all of them. Ive only been to one wedding who didn't allow children and they had their own reasons but no one with kids told them how they struggled to arrange childcare where as we heard about it.

We would have had a no kids rule did we not have 3 of our own that we can't find a babysitter for that day. We decided we might as well have a few more to keep them company and now have around 20. We've been selective though and only nieces, nephews and children that my own kids actually know will be there.

If i'd have had a bigger wedding, kids would not have been invited. Small people irritate the hell out of me.

My 2 boys came to our VERY small wedding (2 kids, and my 2 best friends were the only guests), my H's 2 kids did not...

Ill have kids because I have kids, most my friends have just had children to

to be honest mine and all my friends children are good as gold (well there are 3 I havnt met yet but the others are all well behaved) if kids are acting like little chavs at your wedding you have to question your friends and family as to why they are raising kids to be disrespectful and why they aren't bothering to parent them

It's definitely a matter of personal choice and no one should feel pressured either way. Kids can be absolutely wonderful and really make a day, on the other hand a long exciting day could make them irritable and tired so they could cause problems. As an ex teacher I've had plenty of experience of this! But on your wedding day if you've invited the children of family and friends you would hope they would do their best to make sure their kids were looked after and doing what they were supposed to be doing. And the kids themselves love being part of something so special.

I've been to 3 weddings this summer, 2 with no children at all and 1 where the bride and groom already had 5 children of their own and lots of nieces and nephews all 3 were amazing days and the brides and grooms have said they wouldn't have changed anything about them. And as a guest each one was different but perfect in their own way.

Personally we will be having kids at our wedding, my goddaughter will be our flower girl, her mum is my best friend and will be a bridesmaid too. 3 of our other close friends have babies or toddlers and one of my FSIL's is pregnant at the moment. My OH has 12 nieces and nephews, ranging from age 2 to 18 so they'll all be there too, hopefully my faith in his brother and sisters to keep them out of mischief is not misguided!

Don't worry, jjkcb likes to make sweeping controversial and sometimes offensive statements. Don't let her worry you.

I think there are just so many variables and justifiable reasons to choose kids/no kids or somewhere between the two that it really does just come down to personal preference and a bit of 'live and let live'. I don't have kids but I certainly don't dislike them. We have chosen to invite only immediate family's children because when we initially drew up our guest list and included all our family and friends' children we had over 40 on the list, and they were mainly under 10. To me that is not a wedding, it is a children's party. Plus it made finding a large enough venue hard and would have cost a bomb. So the end result was that 11 children were Invited, of which only 6 are attending. Two of those are our nieces and so it was very important to us that they are there (and are bridesmaids).

To be controversial I think I get what JJKCB was trying to say, although I'd have worded it differently. We have a friend who has 3 very badly behaved children. They have no learning difficulties or behavioural conditions, they are simply naughty and not well disciplined. I am glad they aren't coming, but I'd never tell my friend that!

We've got 6 coming.

4 little girls (5months, 3 years, 6 years and 7 years) and 2 little boys(5 years and 6 years). All nieces and nephews.

All bar 1 who will be just 5 months old, will be flower girls/page boys.

We'll be having a few at ours. My 2 nephews (2 & 8), 2 FGs (2 & 3) & 2 babies (4 months & 11 months). I love kids!

I completely agree that it's personal choice though. If you don't want them there, don't invite them. Plenty of weddings have no children these days.

We're strictly having none! I love babies and I'm really looking forward to having my own one day...but I don't really like other people's kids! I haven't got any nieces or nephews, and none of my friends have got kids, but quite a few of my OH's friends do.

If you don't want them, don't have them, and don't let anyone let you feel guilty! The only exception I would make is for nieces and nephews, and luckily we haven't got any!

We're strictly having none! I love babies and I'm really looking forward to having my own one day...but I don't really like other people's kids! I haven't got any nieces or nephews, and none of my friends have got kids, but quite a few of my OH's friends do.

If you don't want them, don't have them, and don't let anyone let you feel guilty! The only exception I would make is for nieces and nephews, and luckily we haven't got any!

We are having no kids, and all the people coming bar 1 couple - the ex best man coincidently were more than happy with this, any parent we spoke to was glad of the break haha! I really don;t think it is a big issue to most people whether their kids are invited to a wedding or not, it's often just parents who are overly clingy (I don't undertsnad!) or have difficulty finidng someone to watch their kids for a day (which i do totally understand)

It isn't that we hate children, we just wanted our day to be our day and for the adults to enjoy it as much as possible, without having to watch children runnig around the place, plus the venue is definitely not suitable for young children.

When we got engaged we literally only had our 4 year old niece/flower girl coming as she was the only child amongst family and friends. Since then both of our sisters and our best man's fiancé have fallen pregnant. They all asked how we felt about their babies coming, and honestly I was shocked they asked, but equally it was thoughtful of them. We will now have 3 babies between 6 and 10 months, and wouldn't have it any other way. Having said that, is it only because they are close friends and family, otherwise we would probably had thought twice. I suppose we are still relevantly young and the best man's baby is the first in our group of friends.

We are inviting kids to ours.

We are the first to get married out of our group of friends and no one has started popping out babies yet so there wont be that many.

My SIL to be will have a 5 month old and I can't expect her to leave him/her with someone else. Then there are a few cousins with a couple and my niece.

I am a little worried about the noise during the ceremony but I imagine on the day I wont really care.

We will be having children there, we have two girls ourselves, and whilst we have no nieces or nephews, a lot of our friends have children and they will be invited aswell, plus all of our usual babysitters will be there. Our girls are hardcore and will keep partying until they drop (usually about midnight!)

We had children at ours because we've got lots of nieces and nephews. In the end with cousins kids as well I think we had 15 under 10 or something.

Personally I couldn't imagine it any other way but I think had we not had nieces and nephews we probably wouldn't have invited children but because they were coming it was difficult to make the split without it causing us headache