As a longtime lurker, I know that it is inappropriate to put "adult reception," or "no children," on a wedding invitation. H and I had a kids free reception in September 2015. We didn't put either of these on the invite and guess what? No kids came. You know why? Because they weren't invited on the invitation! Luckily, no one RSVP'd for their child, but if they did then I was prepared to call them and let them know that the invitation was only for "you and H or SO."
Anyway, I recently received TWO wedding invites from friends (in different circles) with "Adult reception." on them. The second one was even worse with, "Black Tie Optional Adult Reception." Just No. Even more confusing as the reception is not at a 5 star hotel and the invitation itself was very informal, so it doesn't sound as though this will truly be a black tie event, but the bride just wants to tell people how to dress? I put our decline in the mail today for that one.
It's unreasonably annoying me today and I just had to vent. Don't people do ANY research before sending out wedding invites? Even a quick google search of "Adult reception-wedding invite" brought me to a site that says it's not appropriate language for invites. Thanks for listening to me! :-)