I always thought I would want to bring her to weddings. But that was when I didn't realize that weddings are usually late, and it would be past her bedtime.
We're going to a wedding next weekend that LO wasn't invited to, and I'm pretty excited to have a fancy schmancy date night with DH. We're also going to a wedding in July, but LO is the flower girl so she has to be there. I'm a little worried about what we'll do at bed time... but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
pomelo / 5178 posts
DD is almost two and she's been to four weddings already; she attended her first at only 2 months old! DS will attend his first wedding this summer; he'll be about 2 months and DD will be just over 2.
Personally, I probably wouldn't attend a wedding if my kids weren't invited. Nothing against child-free weddings, but we don't have family around so its difficult to find childcare and I'm not comfortable leaving the kids at bedtime anyway. Usually we can push bedtime back a bit for special occasions and then we leave a little early from the wedding, so its not a big deal.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
We're going to Ohio for my cousin's wedding in November. We plan on taking our lo, who should be 5 months by then, to the wedding but not the reception. At this point, my husband plans on skipping the reception.
bananas / 9227 posts
LO isn't here yet but I wouldn't bring her to a wedding. I won't be able to enjoy myself and be too worried about LO not making any noise.
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
So far we have either not gone or DH has gone by himself.
cantaloupe / 6146 posts
I love when there are babies at weddings, so I will try to bring ours (when he's born) to any that he's welcome at!
I will sit toward the back/toward the door, so we can get up and out quickly if he's fussy during the ceremony or party though. OR if it's my friend's wedding, not DH's friend's wedding--I will make him take the baby out to stop fussing. 
nectarine / 2039 posts
@artbee: maybe for the flower girl situation you could have a babysitter come and pick her up from the party early?
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
@cvbee: LO has pretty bad stranger anxiety so I only like to leave her with her grandparents who she knows and loves. It's an OOT wedding so DH's parents won't be there, and it's my sister's wedding so my parents will want to stay. Plus, the only friends that I know in NY that wouldn't be going to the wedding don't have any baby experience.
nectarine / 2039 posts
@artbee: awe that's too bad. Well, when I was a flower girl at age 3 or something I fell asleep in my Dad's arms at the party and then I just slept while the party continued around me. (There were pictures, which is why I know). Looks like this is the fate of the parents of the flower girl sometimes.
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
No I wouldn't take kids unless they were older and invited. Too stressful to chase after them!
cantaloupe / 6146 posts
@Mrs. Bee: what if they're younger and invited? my buddies took their 2 and 4 year old to the wedding and were SO MUCH FUN. they ran around like crazy, but everyone watched them as a team, so the parents had time to eat and dance and everything.
it was SO CUTE and i'm so glad they brought the kids
we also had a 1 month old, a 4 month old, and 2 toddlers, and a few over 10 which are pretty much not kids
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
@cvbee: I would love if my LO would do that! As long as she's sleeping and happy, I don't care where she is. I just worry that she won't be able to sleep because it'll be loud in there and she'll be a cranky pants. If so, I'll just take her back to the hotel. My sister will understand, but I'll be sad to leave the party early. We already had to leave her first wedding early (she had a quicky little wedding and this is a bigger one) because LO was a month old and it was her bedtime.
pomelo / 5178 posts
One of DD's weddings last summer was my sister's; we just left early to put DD down. All of the family understood since she was only 1 year at the time, and you can't really keep an infant up beyond their limits. I'm sure your family will understand, too.
cantaloupe / 6146 posts
@artbee: when is the wedding? will she have grown out of the stranger anxiety at that point yet?
pomegranate / 3983 posts
I would only bring LO to a daytime wedding. For evening weddings I rather just make it into a date night!
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
We actually have a wedding a few weeks after my due date and have decided to keep her at home since she'll be so young. Thankfully my mom will be here to watch her otherwise I'll stay home since it's my husband's side.
There's a friend wedding in July that I'm not sure if it will be child free or not. So we'll decide then or it'll be decided for us!
Personally I grew up in a family where kids are ALWAYS at a wedding so it's not a big deal to me to have young kids at weddings. So it wouldn't be a big deal for me to bring our LO. But I guess it depends on how she is. My 2 nieces and nephews were always wonderful past their bedtime. But my husband's 2 nieces are even more of a terror if they miss their nap and bedtime. It was a big issue prior to our wedding day. Because their sleep schedule coincided with the day of timeline *rolleyes* It's ONE day they'll survive.
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
@pastemoo: It's in July, so we do still have a little while to know how she is. She used to have very bad stranger anxiety and would scream if someone even looked at her. But now she'll smile for people.... until they try to pick her up. So at least it's getting better!
@regberadaisy: You say that now....but you're right, it just depends on the kid. If LO doesn't get her nap she's a mess, and she makes life miserable for everyone around her. She wouldn't survive without a nap or without going to bed at her bedtime, even for one day. My sister doesn't have kids yet so I'm not sure she'll understand when I say sorry my LO can't be there for pictures, she's napping. But I'm sure she'll appreciate it later when she's not crying throughout her whole ceremony.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
@artbee:
Sorry, that last statement wasn't directed at you. More of a irritation reminder when we were setting up day of timeline. There were certain cultural things that HAD to happen at certain times. And my MIL made it seem like she expected me to come up with a solution of how it would work with the niece's nap schedule. When we felt...well her dad is going to be there and so will they! We have enough to worry about that day I can't be expected to figure out their child's sleep schedule. Nor would it be OK for my BIL not to be there since he is a groomsmen. But hey if they decide that's the best option for them that that's cool as well. But with 6747 things to worry about wedding related why am *I* suppose to figure out their child's nap schedule??
There were many easy solutions to ensure she got her nap but my MIL made it seem like she HAD to nap at the hotel. Anyway she brought all that up before even talking to the father!
ahhh I'm sorry I turned this into a b*tch post!
My suggestions if you're worried about LO getting sleep. Most kids at weddings I went to growing up just fell asleep in their parents arm or across a couple chairs (seriously). Can she sleep in the bridal suite?
cantaloupe / 6146 posts
@artbee: good luck--july is still a little while
we're going to a wedding in july, too!
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
@regberadaisy: oh that's crazy! I would never expect my sister to change her timeline for me! I expect her to be understanding if lo has to miss something, but ill just leave her with dh since I'm the moh.
@pastemoo: fun! Hope you enjoy your wedding too!
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