Kids? Boyfriends/Girlfriends? Bridal Party's Family?

greeneyes04

Okay so most of my friends have kids. Some have as many as 4! I needed to get our guest list down to 150 people and I have done that by taking off friends kids. We are only invitng family and our friends. Family will be allowed to bring their kids and including them and the 3 kids that our in our wedding there will only be 15 kids now instead of 35. Didn't really want 35 kids running around either even though I love all of them. Also, I am only inviting couples if they are married or engaged. We simply can not afford to have everyone bring a guest. Is this all okay? I read in a book that if you aren't going to invite kids than it should go for everyone and not just some guests. I think my friends would understand though if only family brought kids. 

We also had to cut most of the bridal party's family. I say most because we are still inviting my friends Mom and brothers because I have known them literally my entire life and they are family to me. I am also inviting our Best Man's family. Our Best Man passed away in a car crash in May and we would really like his family to be there. We are not replacing our Best Man. We are putting a candle in the spot where he would have stood for the wedding.

Please give me your opinions.

Jlp818

UGH we are in the same boat.

We are only inviting, my nieces and nephews, first cousins who are under 18 and a couple of cousins kids from Fi's side.  We just don't have the space for everyones kids.

We are also inviting only couples who we know are together.  (married, engaged, living together, or serious relationship).  Not everyone is getting a plus one because we have 177 people on our list and max capacity is only 150. (Big mistake on my part!!!)

What time is your wedding at?  If it is an evening wedding, alot of parents won't want to lug thier kids! 

leatba

I too am I. The same boat. Right now I'm at 42 kids. Way too many in my opinion but just about everyone has kids. I know that some of the husbands won't come and I'm hoping the kids stay with them. I'm not over capacity but I would prefer to not pay for that many kids. As for the best man, is his family going to be ok with that reminder during the ceremony?

DMoore421

I cut all kid except my son , my niece flower girl and my nephew he is playing here comes the bride on his sax for the ceremony . My family has kids and almost all my friends have kids but I just didn't want kids every where and taking over the dance floor because then no matter how careful you are someone gets knocked over by accident or something ... So no kids Anyone that is in a relationship though should be invited with their date. Engaged or not. My truly single guests are not getting plus ones, anyone else in a relationship is getting to bring their date.

greeneyes04

We are having a 1pm wedding and a 4pm-9:30pm reception (gotta be out of the place by 10pm. Talking to my MOH though she figured most of my friends would want to be kid free anyways so they could enjoy themselves.

Feeling obligated to invite FI's dad's gf however bc she was invited to FI's brothers wedding. Even though she isn't liked by many people in the family I feel like we have to invite her bc who knows she could end up being his 3rd step mom! lol (Yes his dad was married and divorced 3 times)

TayBeach2013

Luckily most of our guests are family, so I don't  have to worry about the BP's family...because they're all of ours .  I have tons of nieces, nephews and little cousins, but the only children who will be attenting the wedding are ours.  I love them all but I can't wrap my head around spending $35/kid to feed them nuggets and fries.

greeneyes04

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_september-2013-weddings_kids-boyfriendsgirlfriends-bridal-partys-family?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:26a515ec-8009-4599-b81d-5edee3b3fb3cDiscussion:61452f8c-9fbc-453a-9616-4b50574dacf7Post:61f4aecd-899e-4ccc-8acf-5929565c8057">Re: Kids? Boyfriends/Girlfriends? Bridal Party's Family?</a>:
[QUOTE]  I love them all but I can't wrap my head around spending $35/kid to feed them nuggets and fries.
Posted by TayBeach2013[/QUOTE]

<div>Um prety sure if my caterer charged that much for nuggets and fries I would feel the same way. Our kids menu costs about $7 a kid. It is just that we simply don't have the space for all of the extra people. Wish we could have them all!</div>

BostonGIrl4732

I think if you cut kids in circles you should be fine.  If you cut "friends kids" just make sure that you cut them all so you don't have to deal with "why is that kid here and mine's not?"  And I think it's fine to limit kids to family.

bluebfalo

I'm limiting kids to immediate familly (nieces and nephews) and anyone under 2 years old (reason being most will be <1 y.o. and breastfeeding and it's hard to separate a 2 year old from their mom).