Kid friendly, or adults only?
This is such a difficult decision for some couples to make. Particularly those whose friends and siblings have begun their families and are raising small children. Your desperately want them at their wedding, but If you invite kids, either your guests with children will have a miserable time, or your wedding will have to be tailored to being kid friendly, which might not be the kind of party you want.
Kid friendly weddings limit some options for you, for example, you’ll have to consider little ears when choosing the music, and how loud it will be. You’ll want to make sure you don’t have decorations that can be easily broken, or could hurt a child. You’ll probably need to provide a kids meal–luckily, it’s less expensive than the regular meals but still more than you’d normally pay for fish sticks and french fries, and it’s something else you’ll have to think about. You may want to put coloring books, or little games on the table to help entertain the children so they’re not constantly running off.
We don’t blame couples who decide to go for an adult-only wedding, but we sympathize with the parents who are just going to have to stay home that night instead.
So here’s the thing, you can have your cake and eat it too.
When couples plan their wedding, they pretty much all hire the same basic kinds of vendors every time. Photographers, videographers, planners, florists, bakers, caterers DJ’s, among a few others. But what if we added one more to that list: a childcare professional.
If you haven’t had children of your own, these professions almost don’t exist to you yet. Sure, you probably went to school and had a teacher, but you’ve probably never needed to hire a group tutor for anything, and you haven’t needed to look for a daycare center or a babysitter. But these professions can be a major boost to the wedding day, without any guest compromises.
For a reasonable fee, a professional will come up with activities and games, and even some education elements to keep the children at the wedding occupied for the duration of the reception. Most venues have plenty of space for the kids to have their own fun and they will enjoy it much more than an adult reception that’s attempting to be kid-friendly. And, imagine your friend’s and family’s faces when you tell them that they get to come and enjoy the wedding and that you’ve set up something specifically so the kids will have a lot of fun also!
This is an outstanding compromise and your guests will really appreciate it. And you will appreciate it, as your spending time with friends whose attention so often must be on their children.
If you decide to go this route, be sure to tell your photographer all about it so that he or she can spend a little time with the kids and you’ll have those memories preserved as well!