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Joined: 09 May 2003 Posts: 29

Hi there everyone,

I have an issue that could do with some advice. We (my FH and me) are not sure weither or not to have children at our reception. since my youngest sibling is only 6 then we obviously need to include her. we love kids and that's not the issue. the issue is that we already have arund 200 - 250 guests before our guests children. if we invited our guests children we would end up having 50 more younger guests. i would really like to include all our friends and families children in our wedding celebrations but how do we do it so its cheap?? since my FH is studyin at university, i am the one who is working and raising most of the $$$. we are not sure yet weither our parents will contribute (i know my family will but we haven't spoken to his family yet) or how much they will if they do. i have read in some places about hiring a kids entertainer which would be great for us and maybe having the kids in a room adjoining the reception hall. oh i just dont know where to start on this reception issue yet!! its still early days but i like to think and plan ahead to allow plenty of time for changes. ok well that'll be enough for now.
thanks in advance to anyone who responds,

youngbride,
new zealand.

I have too many family and friends with kids so I am thinking of either limiting the kids to those in the bridal party (2 of my neices they are sisters) or to include all the kids but to have a seperate room with kids fun things in it and to hire a couple of childcare uni students to look after them and to run it (ie to have kids party food and games and such).
I haven't really decided yet which. If you hire a few kids that are studying childcare or early childhod or even as teachers for kids it should work out cheaper than hiring a child entertainer etc.
Good luck

Site Admin Joined: 07 Jun 2002 Posts: 90

Hi, Youngbride--

This is an issue which I never heard discussed when I was first in the wedding industry in the early 80s. People seemed to invite whole families to almost all weddings except those that where specifically "black-tie" ultra-formal. No one seemed to even consider not doing so.

There are several ways to look at this, and no strictly "wrong" answers, depending on your social circle and some other factors. But each decision can also bring negatives.

For example, inviting your own young sister, but forbidding other people to bring their children can potentially cause frustration and/or hard feelings.

So, whatever you choose to do, try to think through the long-range consequences to make sure that they will not be something you would have preferred to avoid.

In your case, with such a LARGE guest list already-- and paying for perhaps most of the costs yourself--- I would personally advise re-working the guest list. If you have so many people on, you've likely stretched beyond your closest family, friends and associates, into some other "tiers" of people who might be less-essential to you and your fiance.

If you could cut some of those people from the guest list, you'd have "room" on the list to invite people's whole families.

Good luck with your planning and all these decisions.

Sara