I totally concur with Sarah's post. Although we had a very
child-friendly wedding and I wouldn't have had it any other way, I can
see why someone would want to have a child-free wedding. In fact, I
just went to one last month; it was held at a winery on a mountainside,
and was definitely *not* appropriate or safe for kids. I wasn't at all
insulted that my friend would dare to invite me and DH without the most
precious member of our family.

I also turned down two wedding invites from good friends because I
couldn't leave my then-nursing child for that long. And guess what --
we're still friends!! Sometimes, it really isn't all about me...

Em
mama to Micah, 11/14/04


Sarah Vaughan wrote:

I suspect that what the couple are actually thinking is that they don't
want children at their wedding, and that it's up to each set of parents
to decide whether that means that they themselves can come or not.

I think that for some people, this is turning into "How unreasonable of
them to dare to separate you from your precious baby!", which isn't very
conducive to finding a rancour-free solution. The couple getting
married here aren't trying to separate anyone from their children,
they're trying to have a child-free wedding. I think it's worth
remembering that that's a choice they're entitled to make. The
inevitable result of it, of course, is going to be that some of the
parents won't be able to make it either; but that's for the bride and
groom to deal with, and they can decide for themselves whether it's
worthwhile.

There's nothing *inherently* wrong with wanting to plan a child-free
event (for a wedding or anything else). To answer Larry, remembering
that one simple fact is probably going to go a long way towards helping
the OP answer politely. ;-)


All the best,

Sarah
--
http://www.goodenoughmummy.typepad.com

"That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be" - P. C. Hodgell