Kids at Weddings!

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Agree, most people like the chance to get out and have a grown up evening to themselves. Especially when they get to go to dinner and dance with friends and family!

We are only having our nephews and niece at our wedding. Most of friends understood and took it as an opportunity for some couple time.

Let me share my thoughts on kids at my wedding...lol

In our wedding for the longest time we were NOT going to have children invited. The kids who are part of the ceremony (ring bearer, flower girls) were invited to the ceremony only and after that we asked their parents (who are both BMs) to send them home. One BMs mother was going to come and pick up the flower girl and ring bearer after the ceremony and babysit them for the night.

We did decide a couple of weeks ago that we were going to have children at the reception - but only the children who were in the ceremony. Which means that no guests kids were allowed. If anyone complains were just telling them that only kids who are in the wedding are invited.

People can get touchy when it comes to their kids, but at the end of the day my wedding won't be child friendly. It'll have shots, drunk friends, dancing, super loud music and every other thing that people probably don't want their kids around. lol

To me, both options are totally reasonable! and remember you get to do what ever you want lol try not to worry about who you may offend, they'll get over it.

We are going kids free, but we're not having any in our ceremony, either. My sister had a ring bearer and flower girl, but they were picked up by grandparents (they were kids of friends, not family, so grandparents weren't attending) after dinner and then the reception was kid free. That's one option.

The other option you can present that I've heard other people go with is to hire a babysitter for the evening. They can either hang out in a hotel room with the kids (or pool, etc.) if you have a block of rooms set aside. Or they can come pick the kids up after dinner and bring them home to watch. It's a bit of an extra expense, but it helps enforce your 'kid free' reception policy.

Ultimately, it is up to your guests to make arrangements for their kids since they know in advance whether or not kids are welcome at the reception. I have out of town family who are travelling but leaving their kids with family/friends near their homes to come to my wedding and they had no issues with it. It's fairly commonplace now for weddings to be an adult zone.

Yes, I would just let people know there's generally no children invited. We spread the word before the invites went out, addressed the invites to only the adults and added "adult reflection to follow". We made in know that my fiancé's nephews are invited to the whole thing. Most people asssume that nephews and nieces will be included because they're immediate family.
It's also your wedding and you can do what you want!