Your wedding day is going to be one of the biggest days of your life. This means that naturally you want to share it with your friends and family. Typically this means that children are going to be present, at least for your wedding reception. If you are the type of person who loves to be surrounded by little ones then great, however, let’s be realistic… Nobody wants a child poking their wedding cake before the photographs or talking loudly during the speeches. Here are some ways that you can childproof your wedding:
Think about the timings of your wedding
By getting married earlier in the day you can start your wedding reception earlier too. Consider having your wedding reception start early afternoon. This will allow guests at your wedding to take their children home early evening if need be, without having missed spending time together. Alternatively, start your wedding later in the day to allow smaller guests to enjoy a nap beforehand.
Cater for children
Ensure that your venue caters for the children. Offer foods that are going to be suitable for little people to enjoy and try to avoid allowing them excess sugar. It is possible to provide delicious food throughout the day without loading the little ones up with E numbers and sugary drinks.
Lay on activities
If you are having a formal wedding breakfast then ensure that there are activities on the tables. Colouring books, crayons, puzzles and sticker books are all great ways to entertain little ones. Best of all they can complete these activities quietly. That’s right – quietly! Anything that allows your relatives to get through the speeches in one go can only be a blessing.
Hire an entertainer
Consider hiring some sort of entertainer. This could be a balloon artist, a magician or even just a babysitter. Having one person who is being paid to entertain the children can free up the rest of the wedding party for the more formal photographs. Ensure that there is a designated room, or area, for your hired help to carry out their job efficiently. Lay on drinks and snacks nearby to make the day run smoothly.
Have an area outside for playing games
If you are having photographs taken outside, or even enjoying part of your reception outside, then lay on some outdoor games. Giant games such as draughts or snakes and ladders can be fantastic fun for people of all ages. Have your photographer take some candid shots of people playing with the outdoor games – they will look amazing!
Involve the children in your wedding
If you want to buy some silence during the ceremony then consider involving the children. By using children as flower girls, or page boys, you can give them a specific job. One such job could even be ensuring that nobody is talking during the ceremony. Another job could be waiting by the door to hand out confetti as people leave.
There are a variety of ways that you can involve children in your wedding and child-proof your wedding in the process. Keeping children busy is usually the best option. Lay on lots of fun activities, tasty food and have the DJ keep the music child friendly – at least for the first few hours.