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Depending on your and your partner’s personal tastes and family setup, your wedding day will look quite different compared to other couples’ weddings. Weddings run the gamut from a small, intimate “adult only” affair to a big family-friendly wedding.
Of course, knowing what to do and when is always helpful to stay organized while planning a wedding. Here is The Ultimate Wedding Planning Checklist: A Practical Guide of What You Need to Do and When that can help you stay on top of things.
Regarding the size of the wedding, for some couples, having a large celebration is not important. Instead, they prefer to invite only a handful of people, or have just a private ceremony at the local courthouse. For others, an “adults only” event is what they desire. By not inviting children, they envision a wedding day where their guests can have fun without having little ones running around. Then again, for others, it is unimaginable to not include the kids too, and they want to celebrate their union with no one excluded.
It’s this latter group that we’ll be advising in this post. After all, families, especially extended families, tend to have some children in tow, no matter if that includes toddlers, infants, or those that are entering their teenage years.
In this case, it might be that you hope to make the wedding event and reception itself a little more family-friendly, one where everyone can have a pleasant time and make positive memories.
Let’s consider how to do that below.
3 Ways to Have a Family-Friendly Wedding
1) Limit The Alcohol
There’s nothing wrong with having alcohol at your wedding, provided that doesn’t go against your cultural or spiritual beliefs. Yet it can be worthwhile to try to limit the selection of alcohol or omit it altogether to create an event that is more family friendly.
While some weddings offer an open bar, you might decide to keep it limited for the time being, or offer several different non-alcoholic beverages. Punch and sodas are the types of non-alcoholic beverages that often comes to mind first. But why not be more festive? You may already have a signature drink or two on your bar menu. So why not include a fun Mocktail specially for the younger crowd?
Or you can have a completely “dry” wedding. There’s no rule that says you have to serve and/or consume alcohol to have a good time. (And I’ve seen several “dry” weddings where the guests were having so much fun you could not get them off the dance floor!)
2) Opt For Comforting Entertainment
One of the easiest areas to ensure that yours is a family-friendly wedding is in the music. There are tons of popular songs that have a great beat and will get the party going. But we all know that some of those songs that just aren’t right for little ears, or even Grandma’s, (you know, those with vulgar or suggestive language).
You want all of your guests to be comfortable, so it’s good to choose entertainment that families can enjoy and makes them feel included. The best Wedding DJ & Lighting Rental company can work together to create a lovely experience suitable for families of all age groups while still creating an atmosphere of fun, one to be remembered, and one that helps your event shine.
3) Carefully Plan The Catering Menu
Maybe you are planning a fancy menu for your wedding reception, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But kids typically have different tastes than adults, and that’s certainly true when it comes to food.
Take a look at the kinds of foods your caterer can provide. You want your guests to eat well at your reception, and certainly don’t want to provide something that will go to waste. This might involve something unique, or it might mean simplifying some menu options.
You may also want to consider how to limit the sugar intake of children in attendance to help prevent them from bouncing from the walls later.
Of course, making certain that appropriate food is provided for any guest with food allergies or dietary restrictions is important, for guests of all ages.
With this advice, you’re certain to ensure you have a family-friendly wedding, one that is right for you, and is right for your most loved relatives in attendance.
What other ideas did you do or have you seen to create a family-friendly wedding? Let us know in the comments below!
* This is a contributed post
I hope you found this information useful!
Hearts, Joy, Love!
Jean
For planning help and unique ideas for your wedding call or text me at 937-581-3647, or email me at [email protected]!
