Children at a wedding reception

My Fiance's family is quiet large and we had 25 under the age of 16. We said adults only for ceremony and reception. It was also pointed out to us similar way. We said we are inviting all adults to have a date night and leave the kids at home. We also had a FAQ page on our website where it stated that as well if people wondered why kids not invited.

We straight up wrote Adult Reception on the invitation. Apparently that is perfectly correct in terms of etiquette, and if anyone has an issue with this, we plan on using the open bar as an excuse for not including kids.

Absolutely! It's your celebration. Adult-only events are not uncommon. I understand the feelings that come along with not inviting everyone, but at the end of the day, parents will enjoy an evening off. I would kindly state that it's an adult affair. Most people are very understanding. It's usually only a few key family members that are offended, those ones are easy to spot in advance... Good luck!

We asked our guests to keep their children home too. It's totally reasonable. Adults should be able to enjoy the night without little kids running around. Here is our RSVP card with how we asked for no kids!

These are all really great ideas! My Fiance and I are also going the Adults Only route. Congratulations!

I would keep anything mentioned short and sweet, like “this will be an adults only affair, we appreciate your understanding”. If you have verbal push back just explain your venue/ budget cannot accommodate all the little ones. As a mother I wouldn’t have a problem with it, it’s your wedding after all!

This is 100% your day and if you guys don’t want children there, everyone should respect that.
We are only having our nieces and nephews at both the ceremony and reception. We have put “adults only” on the RSVP cards

No its 100% reasonable! Just mention on the invite that this is an 19+ event! Parents should understand! Plus mom and dad deserve a night away from the kids once in a while! You wont make everyone happy... some might complain but HEY! it's your day!!

All of what Tory said!

Love tori's last suggestion! I would go with that. & at the end of the day its your wedding and if you dont want kids there, thats fine !!

I found this article, when we first got engaged, and it's proven useful for our wedding website. It lists different ways to tell your guests it's an adults only affair:

27 Ways to Announce an Adults Only Wedding

Completely reasonable!! Also, CONGRATS on the engagement and welcome to the WW community!!

I won't be having kids at my wedding and neither did my FH's cousin at his wedding.

The wordings I've seen are:

"With respect, we would like our special day to be an adult only occasion"

"We want you to enjoy the night; Give kids time to sleep tight. We thought it's but right, to make this a "for adults" invite."

"To give all our guests the opportunity to let their hair down and have a good time without having to worry about little eyes and ears we politely request no children."

And then my fav. and prob the one we will be using:

"Although we love to watch your children run and play, this is going to be an adults only kind of day"