This is a question that often comes up when planning a wedding. It’s really a personal choice whether or not you want to include the children in the festivities and there are a variety of factors involved. Do many of your guests have children? What is the age group of children attending? What are the children going to do at the wedding if they are there?

I think a lot of brides forget about these little things and that is part of the reason we get a lot of last minute requests for wedding childcare. Of course the bride is focused on the big picture such as food, music, photography, but she needs to remember that kids are a part of all of this. And if she has chosen to have an adult-only wedding, she should think about the fact that guests with children may not attend, may leave early or may have trouble finding a babysitter, especially if they are from out of town. We have gotten many calls from parents needing childcare while they attend a friends wedding and although they are sometimes sad their children can’t attend, they are relieved to find a trustworthy sitter so they can enjoy themselves.

Whether or not children will be attending your wedding, they should definitely not be forgotten. For adult-only weddings, a nice gesture would be to set up childcare offsite, or at least refer a nanny service to your guests. They will appreciate the thought and feel much better about attending without their children.

If you do decide to have the kids involved, make everyone’s job easier and hire a nanny service to come on site. I often hear brides say, “well I will just rent a bouncy house and the kids will love it!” While a bouncy house is a great idea, there are some things to think about, who is going to supervise the bouncy house? What happens if a child gets hurt? Finally, while a bouncy house is tons of fun at first, kids will get bored and want to do something else. Do you want a bunch of children running around your venue while you are trying to do toasts or eat dinner?

Weddings are supposed to be fun for everyone including kids and their parents, so hire a nanny service that will take care of everything for you. The kids will have their own party with age-appropriate activities and the parents will enjoy much needed adult time to celebrate with you.