I've seen a lot of post on the subject of inviting or not inviting kids and hope this is different enough to warrant another post. Me and my fiance are regulars at a local bar down the street from us- and we regularly have a really good time. We are inviting about 50-75 family members to the wedding and 50-75 of our friends...whom all enjoy a good party. We are having our wedding at 6:30pm and will follow with a formal dinner - then we will move on to the open full liquor bar portion of the evening and will have karokee starting around 9ish. (And we will be providing a shuttle to the hotel afterwards to discourage any drunk driving)
My Dad's side of the family will enjoy this and will be right there with me and my friends. My Mom's side, however, hardly knows me and I hardly know them... on a personal level at least. My cousins on that side were hit hard with the fertility gene, and many of them have 3,4,5 kids. There was a wedding 20+ years ago where children weren't invited and my Mom and Aunts still to this day talk about how rude that was so even if I really wanted that, it isn't an option ( it was not done in good etiquette AT ALL in their defense). Besides, honestly I welcome kids at the wedding and have no qualms with them being there. My fear,however, is the parents will be mortified when they see what kind of reception it is. Either that or they will be disappointed they didn't realize it was such an adult party and regret not finding a sitter and having a great adult night out.
So my question being - how do I word on the invitation and remain classy - big booze party to follow in order to allow guests to make their own decision based on the that information. And do I write the children's names on the invite, like you normally would or something different? Maybe just xx and family? And I'm certainly not going to fill in the _of X on the RSVP cards. Any ideas??
Thanks!