Are you considering your wedding a “child free” zone? No we’re not talking about infants - although it seems mandatory to have a screaming baby during the most tender moments of your ceremony. That’s always the chance you take. We’re talking about those kids that are generally preteen and clearly do not want to be at a wedding and are bored out of their minds.
We can’t tell you the amount of brides we’ve worked with over the years who tell us in advance there’s not a chance there will be any children allowed at their wedding. They’ve been to way too many weddings where children are completely disruptive, while parents are getting three sheets to the wind and their children are misbehaving and causing a ruckus.
You might wonder how this affects us as a wedding vendor? Well, we set up thousands of dollars of sensitive electronic equipment. We don’t generally think of the dance floor or photobooth area as McDonald’s Playland- but clearly some parents do. Not only could children damage the equipment but they can seriously injure themselves.
I DJ’d a wedding in 2017 where children were running around in circles on the dance floor during dinner and I politely advised the parents that it was very unsafe and they should remove them for their own safety. They got seriously upset and left the wedding and then wrote a review as to what a monster I was. Go figure. I was more concerned with their safety than anything else. Clearly, the parents were not. I simply didn’t think it was a good idea for a 50 pound speaker to come tumbling down on a child.
There is a simple solution to all this: have those kids around a preteen age supervise a designated play area at the venue for the toddlers that need and want something to do such as colouring, playing games, organizing, a sing-along - even in a separate room. We’ve seen this and it works great. Those pre-teen children then have a purpose at the wedding and the toddlers are kept busy. It’s a win-win for everyone!
The other option is simple: designate your wedding a “child free” zone and be done with it. You are almost guaranteed to get some pushback, but either way you are taking a risk in ensuring a successful outcome of your most special day. Wedding receptions are not cheap and are an immense planning project. As 25+ year wedding pros we strongly encourage you to consider all these options… and here’s to you having an amazing wedding day! ~ Dave ~