Our Essential Guide to Children and Weddings

Pickle says… For a child, a wedding can seem like a huge amount of fun. We see a day of treats, best clothes, hanging out with our favourite relatives and just a lot of fun.  However, in reality, we can find the ceremony long and the dinner reception boring. Here is our essential guide to children and weddings…

If you are planning a wedding with children you need to think about how you are going to entertain us!

Getting married with children at the wedding can completely change whole wedding day vibe. It is important to be realistic about what we can handle and do some advance planning to help everyone have the best day possible.

Here are some of the best ways to entertain and involve children and make us feel special at your wedding so that everyone enjoys the day:

Give little children little jobs

Children love to be assigned jobs, as long as they are not frustratingly difficult. It gives us a sense of responsibility and makes us feel important. In the preparation, older children can stick stamps on envelopes and younger children could help by dropping sweets into the favour boxes before you tie up the ribbon.

On the big day give your child a role and explain it to them fully. Their job could be to hand the microphone around during the speech or give any gifts to guests. There are lots of big and small ways to include us into your big day and we will be delighted to be included.

Special touches for children

Be sure to add some special touches for the children at the wedding to help us feel welcome and extra-special, encouraging good behaviour. You could arrange a ‘family dance’ in addition to your first dance as a couple and give your children the choice of the song. This will increase our excitement and sense of responsibility. ( I would love to choose the song!).

Decorate our dining chairs with ribbons and accessories in all of our favourite colours or hang cute signs with our names on to make us feel important. It is essential to make sure there are children friendly food options on the menu. You could even seat us at our own wedding table for a kids table of fun, this will help keep us entertained by each other and allow the parents some free time to relax and enjoy themselves as well. (Hopefully!)

Let them perform

If your child has a passion for singing, dancing or poetry, you could ask them to showcase their talents in a special performance for everyone. Allowing us a moment in the spotlight will mean the world to us and its great entertainment for the guests too.

You can also include your children in the unity ceremony if you are having one. By getting married you are making one big family or reaffirming the existing family, so it makes sense to give us a special role. Let us help to light the candle or even come up with something totally new like family handprints you can keep and cherish forever.

Choose a venue with outdoor space

Venues with outdoor areas offer lots of space for us children to run around and let off some steam. There are wedding venues in Nottingham that have beautiful grounds surrounding. It also provides a great place for your wedding photos with a beautiful backdrop, as well as a great place for all the children to play together.

You can also hire some cool stuff for outside that us children will love. Some great ideas are an ice cream van, photo booths, bouncy castles or marquees. It saves you stressing about any noise and it gives us a dedicated area for our activities.

Consider their roles carefully

Make sure you think about what your child likes and doesn’t like before deciding their roles. If your little one loves the spotlight, the role of flower girl or ring bearer might be perfect. If your child is shy, it’s not a great idea to make them have such a big role. Give them a role with less pressure, for example, making an entrance in Nana’s arms or walking down the aisle holding a bridesmaids hand, but still getting a seat in the front row.

Remember not to expect a perfectly timed or direct walk down the aisle on your big day if your children are involved. Things may not go exactly to plan, but it all adds to the character of the day. Just encourage us along and be ready to chuckle at any mishaps.

If you can stay cool and collected, chances are your children will too. Prepare them for the big day, let them know their responsibilities and explain to them why the day is so special.

Have you anything you can add to our essential guide to children and weddings?