My fiance and I are getting married this November 3rd! YAAAAY!! We decided early on that we didn't want children at the wedding not only due to our personal preference for the mood of the wedding, but also because our venue is smaller than average and is set up like a loft with stairs and multiple "hazards"...the director of the venue told us how during other weddings he's held, kids were hanging off banisters! NOT OK! I personally do not want to have any distractions or accidents occuring at the weddnig.
My fiance's family is quite large, with many cousins, second cousins, uncles aunts, out of towners, etc. In fact, the majority of the guest list consists of his family and parent's friends. There are a TON of small children in the family, and I have been to plenty of their weddings and have seen the chaos that ensues from the children, who are hardly ever supervised or reprimanded for bad behavior.
My fiance and I are paying for the wedding ourselves, and we really want the night to be focused on adults having fun, rather than children tearing the place up, which is a guarantee. We both have nieces and nephews who will be attending, but aside from them, we do not want any other children.
My question is, how can I address this without coming off rude or tacky. I understand that this is bad etiquette, but I also think it's bad etiquette to bring out of control children to a fancy event such as a wedding and allow them to do what they please. We cannot afford to provide someone to watch the children, and honestly they wouldn't be controllable...this is a crazy bunch y'all! Please help me figure out the best way to address this!!
P.S. MIL has already agreed and is on board with the idea..in fact she has already passed the word around to some...I just wanted to make it more offical in order to take some of the pressure off of her...I don't want her to take the blame for our decision.
