Anonymous wrote:I’m just curious how others feel and would handle out of state, family weddings where your child isn’t invited. I would like to go, we have a small family and it’s my only cousin but I think it’s rude to not invite our daughter since, in my opinion, weddings are about celebrating with family and friends (including kids!). My parents will be at the wedding and my husbands family lives abroad so they are unable to help.... most likely my husband will be skipping the festivities, which makes me sad. Again, just curious how people would react - it’s making me feel sad but I don’t want to cause hurt feelings by not attending.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think child free weddings are very common. I vaguely remember weddings when I was a kid where punch and cake were served at the reception and everyone, including the entire church congregation was invited. That was a long time ago. Weddings have become more formal and receptions have become more expensive. Many people have limited budgets and allowing everyone who wanted to to bring their kids could easily mean cutting their guest list significantly. If you invite one cousin and their kids, you pretty much have to invite all of your cousins and their kids. So cousins and kids could easily mean very few friends and crazy catering charges per head for food that many kids might not even eat.

So: Two questions: Would you be fine with traveling and getting a hotel and bringing your kid — if the reception was cake, punch, and butter mints?
Is the other event actually part of the wedding celebrations? Or does it just happen to be the weekend before?

Clearly you are not Catholic. Cheap doesn’t mean dry .
I have flown to many weddings held in the school gym with buffet style food cooked by the MOB and the Ladies Guild and a makeshift bar set up on a card table with cousin Jimmy pouring out shots of whiskey. And they were all completely worth it.

Anonymous wrote:I come from a culture where weddings ALWAYS include children, so for me it's ridiculous that Americans think getting married should not involve kids.

I wouldn't go to a wedding that forbade children out of principle.

Anonymous wrote:I come from a culture where weddings ALWAYS include children, so for me it's ridiculous that Americans think getting married should not involve kids.

I wouldn't go to a wedding that forbade children out of principle.

Anonymous wrote:I prefer kid free weddings. I just went to a kid wedding over the weekend and the bride really tried to cater to kids (there were 30 or so). It was lovely but too many kids! They were rolling on the dance floor, running around and people had to leave early to get kids to bed.

I love a good adult wedding with adult cocktails, no kids on the dance floor, and a packed adult dance floor. I have two toddlers. When invited to an out of town wedding, we get a hotel babysitter during the wedding. It’s not a big deal

Anonymous wrote:I think child free weddings are very common. I vaguely remember weddings when I was a kid where punch and cake were served at the reception and everyone, including the entire church congregation was invited. That was a long time ago. Weddings have become more formal and receptions have become more expensive. Many people have limited budgets and allowing everyone who wanted to to bring their kids could easily mean cutting their guest list significantly. If you invite one cousin and their kids, you pretty much have to invite all of your cousins and their kids. So cousins and kids could easily mean very few friends and crazy catering charges per head for food that many kids might not even eat.

So: Two questions: Would you be fine with traveling and getting a hotel and bringing your kid — if the reception was cake, punch, and butter mints?
Is the other event actually part of the wedding celebrations? Or does it just happen to be the weekend before?