Considering Children at Your Wedding
Planning for Kids at Your Ceremony
If there will be small children involved in your wedding, either your own or young siblings or relatives, you need to take a few precautions to make sure the day is joyous for them, too. When deciding on flower girls and ring bearers, think twice about asking children who live far away. It’s not a bad idea, but you need to make sure they have ample time to get to the wedding location. Young adults can be fitted for outfits in their hometowns, but children’s nerves flair up easily. You might find at the last minute that young ones have stage fright. Rehearsals can help a lot, but any doubts you have should be discussed with the parents of the children, so no one’s feelings are hurt.
Once you’ve decided to have small children in your ceremony, make sure they have ample time to rehearse and get comfortable in their outfits. If a child refuses to behave or clings to you during rehearsals, chances are he’s not going to be comfortable on the big day. Have a back-up plan, even if it means nixing the ring bearer altogether.
As far as the menu is concerned, children don’t always care for filet mignon, so you might ask the caterer to whip up some kids’ meals: hot dogs, hamburgers, etc. (it’ll probably reduce the bill too). If you have a lot of children and budget to spare, you can set up a playroom for tots, with toys and games, and a hired supervisor. Children get grumpy when hungry, so it’s better to have some safe meals than to be sorry. If your ceremony is scheduled for the nighttime, you should consider baby-sitting services back at the hotel or home, so you don’t keep kids up past their bedtime. Toddlers will need fulltime supervision away from the ceremony; if you think your 3-year-old niece is up for the ceremony, bring her to the house of worship, but make sure someone is assigned the job of taking her home if she starts to cry uncontrollably.
Child’s play.
Should you have children at the wedding who don’t know each other, arrange for them to meet and get to know one another before the ceremony. A wedding is not a time for introductions, especially if the children need time to adjust to the new situation. Play dates and get-togethers for all of you are essential for keeping the peace.
If your wedding involves long-distance travel for children, get them to the destination well in advance, so they can sleep and get used to their new surroundings. As much fun as it is for adults to jet off to a new destination and join the party, kids need time to relax before they can hop to it.