hi there ! i'll introduce myself by saying I'm the bride.... and my wedding planning has been going pretty smoothly up until today.... so, my fiance and I decided we wouldnt have children invited to the wedding - both his nephew and my niece (3 yrs old each) are the ring bearer and flower girl, but their day will be over after the ceremony.... so, there aren't any exceptions... our venue is overlooking a river and so part of the decision of the no children reception was due to the potential of having kids run on the pier, push each other, hit each other, scream, yell, whatever... and we just wanted all our guests to have a nice "date night" and let loose rather than them worry and US since we're responsible for the goings-on at the venue ultimately as the parties under contract.. in any case, i have 3 cousins who are left with "who will watch the children?"... if both them and their respective spouses come to the reception... so one of my cousins asks me to lunch and very nicely tells me that they've thought long and hard as to how they can come up with a solution to this ? and it seems, well, they can't.. therefore, as of now, they will not be attending the reception - not only that, but they can't very well not attend the reception and leave their daughter (a bridesmaid - she's 19) to attend the reception on her own... (her grandparents - my aunt and uncle are attending the reception)... not to mention her brother(my other cousin and uncle to this specific bridesmaid who is my goddaughter) is also invited and i would assume he will be there.... after telling me about her dilemma and how she can't leave other 2 children with anyone she said she's giving me a heads up as to what the other 2 cousins are thinking of doing and they will possibly show up the day of with their children - she at least, felt she was being more respectful by being upfront with me and coming to me with the situation now... so, my question is - though i understand children can be a touchy subject - i'm getting married later in life (all their children are 11+), so they didnt have to face this sitaution when they were getting married - so why should i? because it's 10 years later and they have children now? and am i supposed to be the one responsible for coming up with a solution as to what to do with their children? both my matron and maid of honor have children and neither one has brought up this issue - they automatically found their own sitters and havent even brought it up in my last 4 months of planning... uughhh... frustrated... !