{"id":40020,"date":"2025-06-05T20:37:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T20:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weddingplan360.com\/?p=40020"},"modified":"2025-06-05T20:37:49","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T20:37:49","slug":"inviting-children-to-your-wedding-or-not-10-suggestions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weddingplan360.com\/news\/inviting-children-to-your-wedding-or-not-10-suggestions\/","title":{"rendered":"Inviting Children to your Wedding (or not!): 10 Suggestions"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The query of inviting children to your wedding generally is a contentious one, and it\u2019s something that comes up in almost every one in every of our couples\u2019 planning journeys. Happily, meaning we’ve got loads of experience and advice to share with reference to inviting (or <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> inviting) your family members\u2019 little ones to your celebrations, ensuring everyone seems to be glad, taken care of and capable of thoroughly benefit from the day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tip 01: selecting not to ask children to your wedding<\/b><\/h2>\n

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Today a number of our couples prefer not to ask children to their wedding because they’re frightened about disruptions to the proceedings, and wish to present their guests the chance to calm down, let their hair down and luxuriate in themselves without their parental responsibilities for a short while. Given this, the very first thing we would like to say is that when you select not to ask children we will provide help to convey this message graciously and politely in order to not cause offence or upset. It\u2019s essential to keep in mind that when you <\/span>do<\/span><\/i> make this decision, there are prone to be people invited to your wedding who need to decline the invitation since it\u2019s impossible for them to depart their children with anyone else \u2013 or they simply don\u2019t wish to, particularly in case your wedding is overseas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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So long as you’re ready for and expect this, it needn\u2019t be an issue. Nevertheless, it could be that you may have immediate members of the family with children and even want them to be a part of your wedding day entourage, otherwise you\u2019re just very glad for everybody to bring their lovely families along to your celebrations. The remainder of our suggestions will concentrate on how one can prepare for having the little ones around, and the whole lot it’s worthwhile to take into consideration to make it smooth sailing for all involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tip 02: catering for youths<\/b><\/h2>\n

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In the event you\u2019re going to ask children to your wedding, we want to make sure they’re embraced and properly taken care of and cared for. Weddings, by design, are very much adult playgrounds of sorts, and we want to adapt certain elements for the littler members of your guest list. The primary place to look is to your catering, starting with ensuring we offer a special kid-friendly menu. We encourage our couples to talk over with their guests with children to search out out what they may actually wish to eat, which can differ greatly depending on their ages \u2013 an 18 month old will want and want totally various things to a 12 yr old, for instance.<\/span><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s price noting here that, while most caterers will provide discounted pricing for youths\u2019 food, that typically only counts for youngsters as much as around age 10. While this varies by caterer, this can be a useful average to remember; beyond this, caterers will charge the complete adult price for older children \u2013 even when the 15 yr old decides they\u2019d wish to eat chicken nuggets and chips or pasta and tomato sauce. It’s because caterers know that, as children grow old, they eat like adults! Somewhere along the road they need to draw this line and, having worked for a while within the event catering world myself before moving into wedding planning, I\u2019m well versed within the inner workings of this.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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In actual fact, the discounted price for childrens\u2019 meals is something of a courtesy and doesn\u2019t actually cost the caterer less. If anything, it will possibly find yourself costing them <\/span>more<\/span><\/i> because they’ve to offer separate meals for the youngsters in addition to still needing to offer the place setting on the table, the service, the dish washing\u2026the logistics and repair involved aren’t dissimilar.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The underside line is that this: ensure you think about the youngsters which can be going to be in attendance and arrange special meals for them, but be kind to your caterers and understand that their prices aren\u2019t going to differ wildly for all children of all ages.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tip 03: high chairs and seating for youngsters<\/b><\/h2>\n

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Staying on the childrens\u2019 dining theme, we also all the time check with our couples whether any of the children will need a high chair. We will\u2019t all the time assume they can be available at the placement and we frequently need to hire them in, especially if we’re working at a dry hire venue (where all furniture have to be hired in) or somewhere distant overseas. If high chairs are needed we’ll ensure they can be found for those children, but this must be planned for.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tip 04: BYO seating for youths<\/b><\/h2>\n

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While we\u2019re with reference to seating, often when inviting children to your wedding you should have guests who say they\u2019ll bring their very own clip-on child seat for the tables. While that is, in theory, a beautiful idea and feels like it might save on some planning for us, it\u2019s actually all the time going to be a \u2018no\u2019 from me as your wedding planner! The difficulty is that, because we\u2019re talking about banqueting tables, these clip-on options are really not all that sturdy. The very last thing we would like is a baby falling off the table because they\u2019ve clipped on and it\u2019s slipped on the tablecloth \u2013 it\u2019s just too dangerous.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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If there are kids of high-chair age, we\u2019ll arrange floor-standing ones that will be pushed right as much as the table. Now, we’ve got just yet another thing to say on feeding the youngsters and keeping them involved within the dining experience\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tip 05: BYO food for youths<\/b><\/h2>\n

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One other scenario we frequently encounter when inviting children to your wedding is that somebody says they\u2019ll bring their very own food, which happens particularly with toddlers or children who are only being weaned onto solid foods. This is totally superb, but we still need to think about whether that child needs a spot on the table. If they may need to sit down in a high chair (which we\u2019ll arrange), they should be counted in on the seating plan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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High chairs, baby seats and buggies take up the identical space as a chair at a table \u2013 if, for instance, you may have a table that seats 10 but one couple desires to bring a baby, seat them in a high chair and feed them their very own food, we want to count them as one in every of those 10 seats. There can be no cost from the caterer because there aren’t any logistics involved, but we still have to count them as one in your seating chart and table plan \u2013 together with a note to put a high chair there.<\/span><\/p>\n

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All of the magic that happens at a marriage is the direct results of meticulous advance planning, even in these tiny details that aren\u2019t essentially the most exciting to discuss and couples don\u2019t all the time consider as a part of the method. The fact is we\u2019ll ensure we learn about all of this upfront and include it on our event plan (which is large and detailed!), and pass on relevant information to all of the vital vendors.<\/span><\/p>\n

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GET IN TOUCH<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

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Tip 06: babies and buggies<\/b><\/h2>\n

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When inviting children to your wedding we’ve got to think about that a few of your guests may bring very young babies. While they don\u2019t necessarily need any catering, we still have to know that they\u2019re coming so we will accommodate them. In the event that they\u2019re arriving with a pram or buggy, we\u2019ll need to think about where that will be left when your guests take the newborn out. It\u2019s not a guarantee that your venue may have a number of free space to depart buggies and baby bags, because your floor plan is rigorously designed to incorporate all of your tables, production equipment (similar to sound and lighting decks), staging for bands, speakers, and a transparent route in your catering team to are available in and out of the kitchen. Sometimes tables are very close together and your guests should want to keep prams right next to them, so we absolutely must take this all into consideration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Once we create your floorplan we will account for folks with babies and buggies, ensuring we put them on tables on the periphery of the event space where we will secure a spot for the whole lot they should have close by. This implies nothing gets in the best way of other guests or the food service, ensuring your whole event runs more easily. So, the takeaway is that this: if guests are bringing young babies it\u2019s not a straightforward case of \u2018they don\u2019t need any food from the caterers so we don\u2019t have to worry\u2019 \u2013 we still have to know they’re coming, and plan for his or her attendance.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tip 07: letting sleeping babies lie<\/b><\/h2>\n

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Many guests with children tell us their little ones will wish to sleep sooner or later throughout the event, at a certain time normally. If we’re suddenly asked on the day of the marriage \u2018is there a room we will use for this?\u2019, the reply is commonly no unless we’ve got specifically planned for this upfront. If we’re at a destination wedding somewhere within the Italian countryside, a dry hire venue anywhere on this planet, or a selected wedding venue without on-site accommodation, it isn\u2019t possible to only \u2018find\u2019 an area \u2013 particularly one that provides the precise conditions for youngsters and babies to sleep. Working in a hotel in London, for instance, makes the query a bit simpler as there are many bedrooms to make use of, nonetheless it must still be thought of ahead of time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a matter that needs very careful thought, and depending on just what number of young children and babies can be coming to your wedding we will do a few various things;<\/span><\/p>\n

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