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Corbis Images

Corbis Images

Kids or no kids? This is  a question that every bride and groom will have to make at some point in the wedding planning process. While one or two children probably wouldn’t make much of a difference, those of us with large families know that too many children can quickly turn your well-planned ceremony into a circus. Unfortunately, opting to have a child-free wedding will typically ruffle a few feathers and sometimes, things can get downright ugly. Recently, a bride-to-be, whose wedding is next month, shared a post on Reddit because her future in-laws have threatened not to attend her wedding if kids aren’t invited. The bride explains:

My fiancé and I have been together for 7 years. We just got engaged last year and couldn’t be happier together. We’re set to be married this March. During the wedding planning, we decided we did not wish to have children at the ceremony/reception. Both our families are heavy drinkers and the venue is entirely outdoors with a large pond in the middle. There is no protective railing of any kind, the water is not illuminated by any surrounding light source, and our wedding is set at night. Maybe it’s just because I’m paranoid but I feel that is a recipe for disaster with children present, and on my wedding day, I don’t want to feel like I have to keep fearing for these kids and worrying.

The other reason we are choosing limit kids from attending is because I’ve been to two weddings where babies crying drowned out everything in the vows. It’s incredibly frustrating especially when parents don’t take the hint to excuse themselves and just sit there. I’ve already been contacted by one of my own family members about this in regards to wanting to bring their 2-year-old. I tried to be as polite, but as firm as possible in my wishes. They said they understood, and have since made arrangements for a babysitter.

Then the same thing happened with my fiancé’s parents, and this is where the sh-t hits the fan. My fiancé has a cousin who had a baby a year ago. Now my [mother-in-law] and [father-in-law] are demanding we allow her to bring the baby. She’s already purchased her ticket but claims not to have known about our “no children” request. The request was on our wedding invites. My [father-in-law] began to yell at us, and threatened us with an ultimatum: We let the baby attend the ceremony or my soon to be in-laws refuse to attend our wedding.

I understand that this is a sensitive subject for so many people, but I really can’t understand what makes people think they can dictate what goes down at an event that someone else is paying for.

How would you handle a situation like this?

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