Small children at the wedding (cute or noisy?)

Natomae

Most of my friends that will be invited to the wedding have children under the age of 5. I don't want to say they can't bring their kids, because then they might not be able to find a sitter and decide not to come at all. My biggest worry though is that during the ceremony, I'm going to hear a crying baby (or that one kid that's all "hey mommy, hey mommy, hey mommy" the whole time). The ceremony will be outside, probably at a park or somewhere big and open, so kids could be there, just maybe running around and playing in a designated area away from the ceremony. I don't plan for the ceremony to be too long, I'm just afraid of the worst case scenario. Anyone have tips or advice for me?

GBCK

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_wedding-woes_small-children-at-the-wedding-cute-or-noisy?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:47Discussion:721a58a7-6738-4960-99b8-fd7f971a5426Post:ed3b4164-aa7c-49b0-82a7-db67372ff091">Small children at the wedding (cute or noisy?)</a>:
[QUOTE]Most of my friends that will be invited to the wedding have children under the age of 5. I don't want to say they can't bring their kids, because then they might not be able to find a sitter and decide not to come at all. My biggest worry though is that during the ceremony, I'm going to hear a crying baby (or that one kid that's all "hey mommy, hey mommy, hey mommy" the whole time). The ceremony will be outside, probably at a park or somewhere big and open, so kids could be there, just maybe running around and playing in a designated area away from the ceremony. I don't plan for the ceremony to be too long, I'm just afraid of the worst case scenario. Anyone have tips or advice for me?
Posted by Natomae[/QUOTE]

It's always a tradeoff.

But if you have kids, have kids.  Plopping a handful of under 5's in a 'designated area' is going to cause more problems, IMO, than it'll solve.  The parents will have to be watching them and instead of parents sitting, kid in tow, watching the ceremony, you'll have parents split between watching ceremony and watchin their hoodlums do kid things.

SuburbsMrs

We had around 20 kids under 12 with a bunch of them under 4 (including my nephews and neice in the first row with thier mom as my MOH). We had around 100 guests.

Yes, my neice wandered onto the altar during some prayers, apparently my nephew was in the middle of the aisle during our vows, and there were a few kids under 1 year that were squirmy from what someone told me later. No crying kids were mentioned.

Did we notice any of it? Not at all. 

We blissfully got married in a shorter ceremony (25 minutes), exchanged our vows, had goddy bags for the kids during the cocktail hour and a kids area with toys during the reception (no babysitters just an area for them to play while parents chatted to the side of the dinner tables). The kids were a blast and all our friends and families could come. 

Don't stress... invite the people that are important to you and have a sense of humor.

6fsn

This is purely the decision of you and your FI.  Do you want the potential for screaming kids or do you want a quiet ceremony that might not include some of your friends?  Also keep in mind that some people might miss regardless.

I agree with both PPs.  Don't have a designated area.  The parents attention will be on that area.  Not to mention some kids won't stay in that area while mom/dad are within range.  I also know that there was some rowdiness in the kids at our wedding.  I didn't notice a lick of it.