Day of: Kids ... Or not?

I've heard of quite a few weddings where kids either were not invited or had a babysitter for the duration of the wedding. My opinion until the wedding day was that kids are family and thus should be allowed to attend. I was of the opinion that anybody that wanted to come should be allowed to come.

Luckily, my reception venue was quite accommodating to children -- both little and big.

Darwin Young Photography

The one big thing I noticed at my wedding was that babies, in particular, were not able to sit through the wedding ceremony. Usually the adult had to leave the room in order to care for their crying baby. This was saddening since it meant that not everyone was available for pictures and parents could not always enjoy the ceremony. It might have been a good idea for us to provide a babysitter to watch these children for these purposes.

Darwin Young Photography

Parents and kids alike enjoyed our reception site though since it was very kid friendly. The reception site had a playground with a swingset, a tree house, and we provided the kids with lots of sugar (candy). I even made sure we got an awesome shot of us with a few of the kids.

So my suggestion is... keep in mind who you are inviting and how they feel about children. I had no problem with children since I watch and play with a lot of them (even including 3 in the bridal party), but I think some parents would have enjoyed the peace of not having children with them during the ceremony.