Plus One-s and Children

I've been a little under the weather this week which is why I've been absent. I'm starting to feel a little better and hopefully will be fully recovered by tomorrow for the fourth edition of Bridey Night. :) The girls will all be coming to my house tomorrow night for some more wedding planning and chit chat.

At the last Bridey Night, the big topic of conversation was the issue of children and plus ones on the guest list. None of the brides in attendance were looking to have a few hundred people at their weddings, but realized that the guest list is a sensitive subject. Nobody wants to leave family members and old friends feeling left out.

Zac and I discussed our guest list pretty early on. We needed to get a rough estimate of a guest count so that we could see what our venue budget would need to look like. After reviewing the list and going over costs we made the decision that we could not be including children in our big day plans. It's not that we don't love little ones, its just that since we both have big families, and friends with kids, including all these children significantly increased our guest count to a number we weren't comfortable with. So we opted to make our wedding an adult only occasion. Plus we think our parent friends would enjoy a night to cut loose and party with us, though we hope that finding babysitters won't be an issue.

We also decided to mnimize plus ones. Though traditionally, all single guests should be given a plus one on their invite, Zac and I decided that our wedding was not the time to meet people for the first time. We figured that a wedding is a time to spend with people you know and love; family and friends that are a part of your lives. Those people are already getting an invite so there is no need for additional plus ones.

Not everyone will agree with our decision to minimize our guest count but we hope that all in attendance will have a great time.

Having trouble finalizing your guest list? Dealing with the issue of plus ones and children? What did you decide? I'd love to hear all about it.