How to Say No When Someone Asks to Bring Kids to a Wedding

Planning a wedding is stressful in and of itself. But when invited guests call the bride to be and ask if it’s okay to bring kids to their the wedding, it’s enough to drive any bride in waiting batty.So how do you say no when someone asks to bring their kids to your wedding and avoid hurt feelings, family feuds and friendship fall outs all the while?Follow these steps to ensure your wedding stays kid free as you learn how to politely say no when someone asks to bring their kids to your wedding.

Things You'll Need

• A carefully worded wedding invitation
• A calm but firm voice

Instructions

How to Say No When Someone Asks to Bring Kids Their Kids to Your Wedding

1. Use your wedding invitations to indicate that your wedding is for adults only. Address the outer envelope of your invitation to Mr. & Mrs. and address the inner envelope by the invited guests first names. Many brides to be use the following wording on their response cards to let people know that kids are not invited to the wedding:Number of Adults Attending _____ Number of Adults Declining _____

2. Create a fact sheet about your wedding. Many brides to be create a wedding web page and post a fact sheet on their site. These fact sheets can also be printed out and included as part of the wedding invitation. Fact sheets can address questions that guests may have, including "Are kids invited to the wedding?" A polite response could be "Our wedding is an adults only event. Thank you for understanding."

3. Be prepared to handle special requests from guests who want to bring their kids to your wedding. Even if you've been proactive in letting people know that your wedding will be kid free, undoubtedly someone will call and ask you if they can bring their kids. Formulate a well thought out response in advance and give all those who ask the same response. Stay clam, but speak in a firm voice. Something like "We'd really love to have kids at our wedding, but our budget and the formality of our wedding just won't allow it so we've decided to invite adults only" should work well.

4. Put your closest family and friends on alert. Your close friends and family may hear someone is thinking about asking you if they can bring their kids to your wedding. If family and friends nip it in the bud, the request may never even reach your ears. Family and friends can also help spread the word to others that your wedding will be kid free.

Tips & Warnings

• If saying no to the kids is going to leave you with more family issues than you ever dreamed of, consider hiring a sitter to provide childcare at your wedding. A qualified sitter can help host a special kids party in a separate area of the facility and assure that they kids don't make an unexpected appearance during your celebration.

• If you opt to have kids as part of your wedding party, be sure to let people know. Modify your response to include that "Only kids in the wedding party will be attending."

• Be consistent when drawing the line. If you tell one friend she can't bring her kids and another that she can, expect a friendship fallout soon after.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish