There’s sort of a practical problem from the host’s point of view though. As I guest, if I suspect my children might be invited even though there was no “and family” or something similar on the envelope, I can always call and congratulate the bride ,say I’m looking forward to attending, and that I hope I can find someone to keep an eye on the children. As the host, what am I to do? I was pretty sure at least one of my husband’s (American-born and assimilated) relatives might bring an uninvited child , but had no clue which one it would be. Should I print “No children under 18 on the invitation”, and risk a problem because there were, in fact, a couple of children invited? Should I print “no uninvited children” or call everyone who might have children and risk insulting the 99% of guests who figured it out from the address? Do I just hope that no one asks why or gets offended because I invited this child but not theirs?
Ok, here’s that follow up.
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Said Mother and baby didn’t show. Baby was admitted to hospital with very high temperature on Thursday or Friday night. I’m sorry to disappoint y’all, but that’s how it turns out.
Personally, I think the then-pregnant mother was silly to think she could still make it to the wedding with newborn baby in tow, regardless of whether it was two weeks old or (as it was) a 5 day old infant.
Oh, and the wedding itself went perfectly, like a dream. I am a very happy bride!
Congratulations!
I hope Baby will be all right.
Sorry to burst your bubble, sweetums, but the wedding’s over, you’re no longer “a bride” but “a wife”. So get yer bum back in the kitchen, and take off those shoes, you won’t be needin’ those no more! 
(PS - if my wife happens to see this on my screen, she should know I was forced to type this at gunpoint by assailants unknown.)
Congratulations, ninevah!
That happened to me, too. In spite of our “no kids” invitations someone thought the restriction couldn’t possibly apply to her own baby and brought him anyway. The kid started screaming holy hell as soon as the ceremony started and didn’t stop until it was over. The entire soundtrack of our wedding is Screaming Baby… no vows, no harp solo, no anything else. Screaming Baby’s mom had the nerve to laugh about it as she went through the reception line. That was 22 years ago and I’m still both furious and broken hearted. :mad:
My advice is definitely have a “no kids” policy and make sure the ushers understand and enforce it for you. No exceptions.
The cost restrictions are definitely justified. When I got married, the children in attendence ended up costing us $900.00.
I had originally said ‘no children’, but I wasn’t going to exclude our own two kids and they were standing in the wedding and my wife’s neice and nephew were in the wedding party, so as a result, we couldn’t exclude the other 32 children in the immediate and near immediate family. I’m still amazed to this day that it wasn’t a total circus. But the normally rowdy bunch of kids were very well behaved.
The reception hall ended up giving us 1/2 price for kids, even though it was not their policy to do so. We were the first wedding party there (under new management) and when they saw that the children were not consuming alcohol and didn’t eat much, they decided to cut us some slack.
But even if cost is not an issue, a wedding can be considered an adult event. That’s up to you and your future spouse.
And if anyone complains about the no-children rule, it’s probably going to be the one who has the worst-behaved child in the family. They never can see how bad their own kids are.
I don’t actually have a no-children rule, but the invitations I sent out specifically limited each person to bring one guest. I’ve had four people already ask me about bringing more than one person. Grrr!
Geez thanks for that jolt back to reality!
Pfft, I say. I’m reckon I’m still a bride until we come back from the honeymoon - we leave for the Cook Islands tomorrow! yay!!