Wedding Invitations

What is proper wedding etiquette concerning inviting children to your wedding- either yours from an earlier marriage, nieces and nephews of the bride and groom- or some of each?

Having children at your wedding can be special, but then- as many know- some may become overly excited and get a bit too lively.

So should or should you not invite children to your wedding?

Syndicated columnist and wedding advisor Carley Roney answered this question earlier this week.

“My fiance and I really do not want children under 13 at our wedding,” a reader wrote in to Carley’s column. “My mother thinks it would be horribly rude not to invite them _ and she’s paying for the wedding. Do we have to give in?”

Carla came up with a sensitive, yet practical, answer.

“Even though your mom is footing the bill, your wedding should still be a reflection of you and your fiance, so big decisions- like whether to invite kids- should be agreed on by all.,” she writes. “Explain to her your reasons for not wanting kids present. She might come to see your point of view if you have specific reasons beyond just not liking kids.”

The expert then focused in on one common reason for keeping kids away from the wedding.

“Perhaps the reason is that you want to keep the guest list intimate. If you’re still at an impasse, try to find some kind of compromise,” Carley writes. “We know one couple who sent an invitation to all of the wedding guests’ young offspring for a ‘private children’s reception’ to be held during the wedding in an upstairs room.

“When the families arrived, ” Carley adds, “a babysitter hired by the bride and groom escorted the kids away to watch videos and eat pizza while the parents attended the reception.” (Scripps News Service)