My fiance has a 10 year old son. We both agreed to have an elegant, formal, adult only reception. We are planning on having the son dress in a tuxedo matching the groomsmen and escort the MOG down the aisle as his "official" duties. My fiance also wants 2 of his 4 nieces as flower girls (ages 2.5 and 5), I have agreed (but not asked them yet). After reading your prior responses, I should include all 3 children at the reception but my fiance and I agree that we don't want to. We planned on letting the children have a sleep-over with their other cousins not invited to the wedding. We want everyone to enjoy themselves, we don't want behavior issues with the children, and we don't want anything destroyed/broken at the reception (historic mansion).
The adult-only reception has been shared with all relevant parties. We would never think of excluding the son from the ceremony. Should we be worried about guest gossip from ceremony to reception (different locations)? or will I look like a bad future stepmother/aunt by not letting them attend the reception? Should I only be concerned with the feelings of the parents of the flower girls? I'm feeling bad now.
Etiquette Now
WEDDING ETIQUETTE EXPERT
Jan 16, 2008, 1:30 PM
Post #2 of 2
(396 views)
Re: [Carin717] Fiance has 10 year old son - adult only reception
[In reply to]
Dear Carin,
Well, no one can tell you how to feel or that you should feel badly. However, all wedding guests and members of the bridal party should be invited to the reception. If you don't want children at the reception, they shouldn't be invited to the wedding or be a member of the bridal party. Plus, some do have a problem with seeing some children when theirs are not invited. So even if you invited the children in question to the reception, you may have hurt feelings from parents of those not invited.
Fiance has 10 year old son - adult only reception
