Oh boy… the dreaded time has come. How do you tell your guests you are having an adults-only wedding? For some couples, this can be so scary. You don’t want to be rude but you also want them to know, without a doubt, that, unfortunately, their little ones are not invited. Don’t worry, this is where a stationer can help you out. You can actually utilize your invitations in a few ways to accomplish this!
THE SUBTLE APPROACH
On the invitation envelope, you can list just the names of those invited. For example: “Mr. and Mrs. Luke Danes” as opposed to “The Danes” or “The Danes Family”.
This is a VERY subtle way to do it, but it’s also the “proper” way. Most guests may not know etiquette though, so you might want to make it a bit more obvious. Which leads us to:
THE DIRECT APPROACH
On your invitation card, you could write “Adults-only reception to follow”. This COULD be confusing though. Parents may think they can bring the children to the ceremony and not the reception.
You can put something like this on the RSVP or a separate Information card:
- Adults-only affair
- While we love little ones, we kindly request a child-free wedding
- Please join us for an adults-only reception at 6:00 pm
- We hope you’ll join us at an adults-only reception that will immediately follow the ceremony
You can choose the wording depending on how formal your invitations are.
THE SURE-THING APPROACH
If you still think guests may not get the hint, you can make sure they cannot bring their kids by reserving a specific number of seats. We do this by adding a line to the RSVP card that says:
“We have reserved ___ seats for you at the reception” or “No. of seats reserved ___” and then you fill in with a pen how many seats, aka how many people, are invited.
Another option for the RSVP card is wording your yeses and nos like this:
“___ adults would love to attend”
“___ regrettably we are unable to attend”
Finally, if you believe all of these options are not enough (you know your guests best), you may just have to call them up. I know this can be sooo awkward but you either bite the bullet and call them orrrr just get your parents to do it LOL.
Either option you decide to go with, be prepared that some guests may push back. You’ll have to stand your ground. It helps to be positive. You can put it in a way that makes them see that you’re giving them the night off as well!
I hope this was helpful. If you need any more etiquette help, click here to schedule a call!
