Brides with young children

Have you got any other children there in the day similar age?

are their granparents at the wedding?

i was at a wedding last year & there were a few kids ranging from 1 to 7. the 1 yr old spent the day with granny (at the wedding) being thoroughly spoilt & then slept in his buggy...the kids from 3 upwards played for most of the day together & then one of them crashed out on the chairs at one of the dinner tables.

i cant give you my experience as i am not a parent tho.

Surely there will be a family member or friend at the wedding who you can ask to be responsible for him for they day?

Hi, i know how you feel, were also having a church wedding then w.breakfast at a hotel but my daughter will be 6. we don't know what were doing yet but i don't want someone to be invited then get the burden of a cake fueled, over excited nightmare! lol our parents aren't around so the only close family option (other than the adults who will be drinking!) is 2 nieces that are 15, but i worry come 8-9 pm my daughter will be so sleepy and grumpy i will end up looking after her, even if every guest trys to help, her crying and being upset will upset me (you know how it is....) so were looking at getting someone, just a local school girl 15-16 and hiring her for the night, giving her a set overnight pay and booking a twin room, then at 7-9 pm she can take my daughter to bed, and sleep in the next bed, we are thinking about £90 -£100 for the sitter £60 for the room then £40-50 for the sitter to come get used to my daughter So about £200 but i think it will be worth it as we know she will be looked after all night, al through the night and an hour or so in the morning!

There will be five children aged 2-6 including my son then a few older ones and some teenagers, all cousins. My parents will be there but on the top table and my boyfriends parents will be virtually useless as his dad isn't conscious enough of what to do with small children and his mum will want to get drunk lol. I think the best bet is my future sis in law who has two young boys or my nieces...if this crèche isn't too expensive anyway! I just know I'll be stressing about where he is as he runs off and is an explorer, likes to be free and not stuck in one place so whoever looks after him has to be prepared to literally run around after him all day and not take their eyes off him as he is very accident prone :-/ maybe I'm just being a paranoid mum and over thinking it all.

Emze that's a good idea, we don't know anyone in the area unfortunately. But yes I get what you mean, when they're upset it gets to you and often only mum or dad can soothe anyway.

Its a toughy isnt it? My little boy was 2 and my friend and various grandparents looked after him during the day and then at night he went for a sleepover with his best pal and they got a baby-sitter - so he left the hotel before we even sat down for our meal, worked out great actually as we got photos with him and a cuddle during the ceremony and then off he went to play!!!

My SIL had alot of children at her wedding, including her own 2. The wedding was in a marquee, & they set up a smaller tent next to it for the kids. The owner of the children's nursery where they attend (who is also a friend) set up games, toys etc in the kiddies tent & this was manned by 2 of her regular child care staff. (I think 1 qualified staff & 1 assistant girl). I have no idea what the cost was, but certainly cheaper than an organised creche company or individual babysitting. Worth asking around.

Not only did they do colouring & the usual games, they also went on an adventure walk in the grounds to find leaves, flowers etc then glue them to pictures. They set up a play station for the 'older' kids, & cornered off a darker area for children sleeping in buggies.

I have 2 active boys that will be 22months and 5years. I use to work in a nursery and i asked one of the girls that would have come in the evening if she would come all day and look after my 2 especially during the speeches to save any family members from missing anything. she can take them in the gardens etc. I said i'd pay her but she said she would do it for free.

I got married at half two,family helped looked after my three year old. When the meal had almost finished at about 6pm i had hired a babysitter from a babysitting company to come and keep and eye on my son. She had come to my home the week before to meet him.

Her job was to make sure he did not run outside or get hurt so i could relax and i did not think it was fair at all to expect my family who would be most likely having a drink and chatting to be responsible for my little bundle of wildfire.

He lasted till about 10pm and then wanted to go to bed so the babysitter sat in the room (which was huge so she was not perched on a bed or anything) till we came back at 1am.

it was actually the best £60 i spent otherwise i would not have been able to relax. He of course was dancing and mostly with us but i did not have to have my eyes trained on him the whole time and someone would have had to left the wedding early to watch him sleep in the hotel if we did not have her.

The company i used said it was quite a common request.

My daughter will be 9 in a few weeks and is a total party animal.... she will be the last one standing at the end of the night. Shes also very trustworthy and i know she wont wander off. My son will be a month short of his 5th birthday. Hes not a great partier and needs his bed by 10pm at the very, very latest. Any family dos we go to he ALWAYS is asleep by the end of it... either on a few chairs or the floor!! The hall where our reception is being held has a little corner where i plan on putting all our presents, bags etc as its out the way and i doubt we will be sitting down for long. I think im going to bring his blow up bed and stick it in that corner and just let him crash out when he needs to.... he always sleeps through all the noise anyways

Well we have 4 children(all under 8) and they are all taking part in the wedding 3 bridesmaids and my son will be page boy/best man. and at the reception they will be with us! we will be looking after them not really sure why we wouldnt be in my eyes its as much their day as it is ours as we are their parents thats getting married. obviously there will be several family members who will help entertain them but we are having a bouncy castle so im guessing they will spend the best part of the day on that lol.

I know when we go on holiday that my girls (4 & 6) can stay up until 11 at a push. I am therefore going to let them just enjoy the day/night as long as they can. I am also going to have a chill out room, which will have crafty stuff in the day, and films later on, with bean bags and blow up ready-beds, for those that need to crash a bit earlier...

Well one company got back to me and for two event nannies to come for two hours and look after kids then babysit my son in the evening would be nearly £300! I'm thinking I may just pay two of nieces and my fiance's younger sister to look after him in the day and then get a babysitter for the evening and we will put him to bed...can't decide. We will of course be spending time with him during the day, there's no way I want to shrug off all responsibility and not see him, I want peace of mind that he will be looked after when I am having photos done, talking to all the guests etc. he is not the type of kid who will cling to me while I stop and talk to everyone, he will want to go off and explore quite rightly.

My youngest will be 2 and a half by the time our wedding comes round, eldest will be 4. There's also another 18 children been invited day and night. My mum &dad are looking after my kids. Although i did worry that this means they miss some of the wedding seeing to the kids. There is nobody to have them overnight as they have only ever stayed with my mum &dad and all the family and close friends are gonna be at the wedding anyway so couldn't ask anyone even if I wanted to. I'm gonna have a kids table with things for them to do and some toys so hopefully will keep them busy and just hope all works out ok x

I have a little boy who is 7. His Grandma has offered to watch him all day but I want her to be able to enjoy herself and worry after 2 glasses of wine she may relax too much. My son has autism and needs to be kept an eye on at all times plus he tends to retreat away from crowds so I don't want anybody to have to sit with him and miss the fun.

We have invited his previous teaching assistant who is a good friend and she will be happy to have him sat with her as she adores him. We have agreed he will go to his daddies house at 8pm as by then he will have had enough, just need to get him there without Dad coming to the wedding venue ?

Aw that's nice that his teaching assistant is coming, I expect it's best he has someone familiar there? My son also tends to retreat from crowds, as much as he likes company he also like to do his own thing and sometimes gets a bit overwhelmed by lots of people and noise.

I've contacted a few different companies, one can provide event nannies at a cheaper rate than the other one so will weigh up all the costs when they've all got back to me.

Do you have a sitter you have used before that would be happy to do childminding for a reasonable rate rather than useing specialist event nannies? (I hadn't heard of these before)

Unfortunately not as we don't live in the area and no family or friends do either.