Having children at your wedding

How to decide whether to have children at your wedding

The decision to have an adults only wedding, or a family friendly celebration, is a personal one but the following may help you to make up your minds:

• Under-18 guests could influence your choice of venue, as some may have a child-free policy while others may have a limit on the number of young guests.
• Having children on the guest list could impact your budget – do you need to allocate funds for entertainment or childcare, or different food options?
• If you don’t cope well with chaos, children maybe aren’t a good idea! Younger children have a habit of running round shouting and screaming when they’re having fun and while some may really welcome the atmosphere, you have to decide what will suit your day.
• Having young children and babies may hamper their parents’ enjoyment of the day – they may want to enjoy a child-free time, without having to keep an eye on their youngsters or leave early when little ones need to go to bed.

How to tell guests children are not invited

You must be absolutely clear on your invitations that it is a child-free celebration. Include an insert explaining that there are no children and while you realise this may upset some, you hope they will still come. Do not assume that parents will realise their children are not included if the invitation does not mention them – some will assume that if the parents are invited, then so are the children!

If you do decide to welcome children to your wedding, it’s important to plan for their needs.

Keeping children occupied at a wedding

It’s a good idea to plan ahead for younger guests. Some couples consider hiring a baby sitting service for their reception, where qualified and vetted staff can look after children, while others provide entertainment and activities to keep them occupied.

Child-friendly entertainment from The ALS Group

Venues with outdoor areas are a great idea as activities that make the most of the space can be fun to plan.

A selection of giant outdoor games can be played by guests of all ages.  Games such as giant Jenga or giant Connect Four are always popular and will keep younger guests amused for hours.

Where your venue offer no outdoor space, or if the weather is against you, indoor Scalextric racing or Giant Operation will be appreciated! And very young guests will love their own dedicated children’s soft play area or a children’s ball pool.

Offering facepainting will always be popular with younger guests. Our face painters are all DBS checked to work with children, and will arrive at your venue smartly dressed and fully equipped to create pirates, tigers, unicorns, fairies or whatever else little imaginations can think of!

If you have decided to have a family-friendly wedding and need help to plan the perfect activities for young guests, give our friendly team a call today on 01526 397995 or drop us an email with your requirements.