The content in this blog post first appeared in my monthly newsletter in June of 2025. Sign up here for first access to more content like this!
Hi Friend!
What is up?! I cannot believe it’s June already! June has always been a special month for me because it’s my birthday month. Every year I somehow can’t believe it when June comes around, and I can’t believe I’m another year older. This year is no exception. Thinking back to June of last year, it somehow seems like more than one year has passed, and not even one year has passed – all at the same time. Funny how that works.
Today’s newsletter is all about a pretty controversial topic:
Children at Weddings
Now of course, you know me and you know I always speak my mind on these types of controversial topics. But I also will always present both sides of the argument because I have never believed in “one-size-fits-all weddings”.
The first time I ever heard of children not being invited to weddings was for one of my relative’s weddings (who shall remain nameless!) that I was a bridesmaid in. This wedding was taking place in a city that most of the guests would have to travel to, and almost all guests were family. There were a few different factors on why the bride and groom chose to have a kids free wedding; 1) the venue had a strict limit on guest count, and 2) the bride was adamantly opposed to having any kids crying during her wedding ceremony.
For my own wedding (which also had a strict guest limit due to the location in Rocky Mountain National Park) while I wasn’t opposed to having kids present, I did have to have a few hard conversations with some of my friends about bringing their families because I wanted to prioritize the presence of our relatives first. So the question is …
Do I believe in children being invited to weddings?
Ultimately yes, but with so many exceptions that it might as well be no. Let’s go through some of the arguments for and against having children at your wedding. I’ll start with “For”:
Yes, Invite Children to Your Wedding
Growing up in a small southern town and being involved with a religious community, I attended several weddings as a child. Possibly more than the average person. I remember going away to college and meeting people who had never been to a single wedding before, which struck me as extremely unusual.
The first wedding I remember going to was when I was four years old and it was for some friend of my mom’s who had asked me to be the flower girl (I think I was a flower girl three or four times as a child). I was an extremely shy child, and my mom helped me practice walking down an aisle throwing rose petals we collected from my aunt’s rosebush.
I give at least partial credit for my love of weddings and my current work as a wedding vendor to all the weddings I attended and was a part of growing up. I have always understood the importance and sacredness of wedding days, and I truly believe this directly translates to my elopement photography business.
Reasons I would recommend inviting children to your wedding:
- They’re related to you or the child of a close friend
Now for the “Against” argument:
No, Don’t Invite Children to Your Wedding
Even though I do have a very personal appreciation for all of the weddings I attended as a child, I do still believe in firm boundaries when it comes to your wedding guest list.
Reasons I would recommend not inviting children to your wedding:
- You don’t want to (and by the way this applies to adults as well as children)
- Venue guest count restrictions
- Budget – weddings are expensive and food is only getting more and more expensive by the minute it seems
- You’ve never met the child and/or have no personal/emotional connection to the child
Actually, reading that back, all of those reasons apply to adults as well as children. No one has the “right” to be at your wedding, and you should only invite people from a place of genuine love, never from a place of obligation.
In Conclusion
Do what makes you happy, don’t worry about what other people think, and if you’re interested in planning an intentional wedding day and need a photographer, I’m your girl!
Be sure to sign up for my monthly wedding planning newsletter so that you can check out my wedding planning freebies that are only available to my email list subscribers, AND also here are a few more resources that I think will be helpful to you as you plan your wedding day:
“10 Incredible Elopement Day Activities”
“How to Create A Unique Experience For Yourself On Your Wedding Day”
*All my blog posts contain a selection of images that I’ve taken. If you are interested in booking a wedding or session with me, I am more than happy to send you a full gallery upon request!
I’m a wife, a dog mom, a foodie, a wanderer, a registered nurse, and a portraits/elopements/branding photographer … and this blog will cover it all! If you enjoyed this post, first of all thank you, and second of all please follow me on Instagram + Facebook and sign up for my monthly newsletter to get exclusive wedding planning advice and access to all of my new (and old) freebies! If you have any questions about elopement photography, my journey from nursing to photography, or my time spent as a full-time RVer, drop a comment and I just might write a blog post answering your question (but I definitely will)!
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