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?
Re: Small children at the wedding (cute or noisy?)
[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.
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.