Ok, here's the situation. We've just booked our October 2012 wedding venue. It's a destination wedding in FL, and the reception will be on the pool deck.
About half the guests are coming from the UK. My nephew, who will be 9 at the time, will be in the wedding, and at the moment, is the only "child" attending (unless someone is breastfeeding- that's ok, too). We polled all our close friends, and they unanimously said they'd prefer to attend sans kids.
We will have pre-screened babysitters available at the hotel where the wedding and reception are being held. It is not a large venue, and parents would be a 5 minute walk from their kids at all times. This is why we chose a hotel as a venue.
FMIL apparently just spoke to FI and says she thinks some of the UK cousins won't come if their kids cannot attend the wedding. We thought about inviting kids, but have sort of ruled it out for 2 reasons-
1. We have 125 adults on the invite list- and 49 kids. That's 49 $25 kids meals, 6 more tables (and centerpieces) needed, etc. It's a lot of kids, and a lot of money.
and
2. The reception is on a pool deck, and has an open bar.
I feel like toddlers + pool + open bar = potential serious problem.
I told FI that if it's really a problem for one of the cousins, we'll put the kids in the wedding, but now fi is wondering if we should just bite the bullet and invite all 49 kids.
What are your thoughts? FI is concerned people are telling us they prefer no kids to be nice- I know you'll tell me the truth!