Adult-Only Wedding Wording

I wouldn't put the "enjoy your 'night off'" thing. I sounds mildly off-putting. I don't have kids and I would raise an eyebrow if I saw that.

Honestly, I would just not put the kids name on the invitation.

Instead of adding it at the bottom as an after thought, I would make it part of the invite to the reception, such as "Please join us for an adults only reception following the ceremony," and make sure you address it to only the parents. It also might be a good idea to say something on your wedding website (if your having one) like "The ceremony and reception are adults only affair and we ask that you make alternative arrangements for children under the age of 18 (or whatever your adult cutoff age is). We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. If you need assistance finding child care in *city your are getting married in*, please get in touch with us and we would be happy to give you contact information on recommended sitters in the area. Thank you for respecting our wishes!"

Just address the invites correctly and you don't need to put anything on the card. If anyone asks, you can then says "it's actually adults-only, we hope you can still make it."

The "night off" things also sounds like you're providing child care. Registry info doesn't go with the invite.

Am I the only one concerned that her invites haven't been sent out...?

Stacey, I just noticed (because of FutureMRS comment) we are getting married on the same day. We just ordered our invites last night. I'm a little comforted that we are not the only ones. We sent save the dates though so hoping that helps.

I had difficulty with the no kids thing too. But, because my nieces are all a part of the wedding. I'm good with my neices but really don't want any other children. I was given the advice to make sure to addresss the invitations to only specific people and not say Mr. Smith and family. I do like Jesse's girl's comments.

I put a little caveat on the website saying "We will be serving alcohol, so only guests over the age of 18 please!" and will only be putting the names of the adults on the invitations.

Just get ready for a fight- my family has been constantly harassing me about it and I only just send out the STDs!

We were very blunt on ours. It said "adult reception to follow. Please no children under 12"

Nobody complained and all was good.

Thank you all for your comments and advice! I like to hear what others think because I'm sure everyone receiving an invitation will think something similarly.

FutureMRS, you're right about not sending our invitations as early as what is typically done: our wedding is more of a casual event so we decided to send them 4 weeks in advance!

Amberrdoo I am excited to hear we have the same date! In my opinion, I think it's perfect timing to send invites. Especially if you already sent Save the Dates.

NewestHess and Jacque, thank you for your advice and I am glad to hear about your experiences with this as well!

"We know many of you with small children are considering traveling to Cincinnati for our wedding weekend. However, please keep in mind that the wedding reception is limited to adults only."

Thats what we put on our website.

BTW-- Wedding Date Twin!!!!!!

I havent sent out my invites either. I am 6 days later but I am not sending mine out till next week, like sept 2 with an rsvp date of sept 20th in hopes that people will just get it and put it right back in the mail!

Hey Stacey, do you have a caterer? If you do, double check when they need the final headcount by. Most places need it a couple of weeks in advance, and if you send the invitations 4 weeks out, that only gives your guests a couple of days to respond.. just something to think about.

You could just add a line on one of the cards that says, "Please join us after the ceremony for an adults-only reception at

Do NOT put "adults only" on your invitation. This is incredibly rude. Simply address the invite to the people invited. For example, if the Smiths have 2 kids, just address the invite to "Mr. And Mrs. John Smith". That is indication enough that only the parents are invited. If they RSVP and indicate that there will be more than 2 in attendance, contact them and say "I apologize for any confusion. We are only able to accommodate you and your spouse."

We haven't sent invitations out but on our wedding website we have under information about the reception, we put: "Adult Wedding Reception: While we love them, we kindly ask that you leave children at home." I have had most of my friends with kids excited about a "night out!" The only backlash we have gotten is from relatives wanting grand kids there. Good luck!!

@jesse's Girl has it right, start it off, you're invited to an Adults Only ceremony/reception. just make it clear. address properly and politely turn down any dummies that keep asking. my friend got invited to a wedding where they offered to help find sitters for kids 10 and under. i feel like that is the parents problem not mine.

for the record, i'm allowing kids but most said they wont bring them. but only cus my BM has a 5 year old and we're best friends.

Our invites simply said "Adult Reception to follow". We are also having a fairly small wedding (60-65) guests, and most of them are aware that they will need a sitter that night because we've talked with them in advance.

Adult Reception to follow and address the invite to the party invited.

We have it on our website, stating that "We'd like to let you know that this will be an adults-only event. We love you, and we love your children, but we want this time to be with our adult friends and family only." On our invites, we will list "Adult reception to follow" and also state "2 (or however many) spaces reserved in your honor" and having a fill in where they can fill in if they need all or just part of the spaces reserved in their honor.

If they don't get it by then, then well, they're idiots. And I guess we will have to call them.

We didn't put it on our invitations. But we 1) Only wrote the parent's names and 2)Put it on our website.

Also don't forget the power of word-of-mouth. We're having a semi-adults only reception (only family kids allowed - luckily there will only be one child there). Our parents and wedding party helped us spread the word once the invitations were sent.

I actually like what it says, it's to the point. I believe I even saw a sample wedding invite say that phrase or close to it.