Adult-Only Wedding Wording

Theoretically this is what you *should* do (but not everyone does):

-Write the invitation to whomever is invited. If children are not invited, do not include their names.

-Do not include your registry information

-You can include your wedding website if you have one, and that can contain registry info.

I forgot on the invites and included an extra card as well. It had the hotel information And adult reception to follow ages 10+ welcome (I wanted 18+ but FH was adamant on a few cousins that are 11, 13 and 15 and I didn't want to piss people off) I've had quite a few people say "oh so I can bring my kid to the ceremony but not the reception" hell no, the kid doesn't come or you are welcome to stay home. I've had others say "so I can bring one kid but I can't bring the other" no you are supposed to take the hint and bring neither. I also only put adults names on invites. Nobody seems to grasp it though.

One thing I've seen everywhere is that there are a million different opinions/ways to do things when planning a wedding. Even though several websites stated that putting "adults only" would be considered rude, I still did it. So many people don't even pay attention to who the invites are addressed to and automatically assume everyone in the family is invited. With so much going on before a wedding, no one has the time to be calling people and clarifying who is invited.

I simply did a separate insert with the invitation that stated the rsvp deadline, website, attire requested (yes, it needed to be said), and "adults only reception" on it. If anyone gets offended, they are just plain too sensitive.

We just plan on not sugar coating it and adding Adult Only Reception To Follow.

Its direct, straight to the point and pretty easy to understand

We just didn't put any children on the invites and spread it by word of mouth. We have not had anyone with any issues.

We are using word of mouth and also put 'Number of Adults Attending' on the RSVPs and have had no issues with that.

I agree omit "night off" , it sounds as though parenting is a JOB. Marriedoldhag is right, when having an adult only it is proper etiquette to just not put int he children's names. However, most people don't know that and would still bring kids! I'm throwing a lot of etiquette out the window with mine. I'm not listing 5 kids name on each invitation or sending twice as many invites for adult children that live at home! In fact I don't think its proper etiquette to put your registry info on the invitations either! I agree with the wording "adult reception to follow".

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I just want to whine, FMIL invited children to the ceremony. WTF. Thanks FH for standing your ground, this is a slippery slope to them coming to the reception since it is at the same place immediately after. Ugh! and the invites haven't even gone out.

But regardless, our invites will be addressed to who is invited (omitting children) and if they ask (me obviously not FH, see how well that worked out) if they can come or say they are I will just say that we cannot accommodate children.

What my FH and I did on our invitations was put "Adult reception to follow in the _____ (room/venue you're having your reception in/at)". Then, on our RSVP cards we put "We have reserved ___ seats in your honor" and filled in how many guests we were anticipating per household we sent them to. This way if people don't pay attention on the invite where it says "Adult reception to follow" they will get the hint when their RSVP card says we've reserved "2 seats in your honor" (enough for mom & dad, but no children). I honestly don't get the big deal about having an adult only reception! I thought at first that some people would be offended, but the more family & friends I talk to, the more they say they're excited to be able to enjoy a wedding without a bunch of kids running around!

I don't see how putting "Adults Only Reception" on the invitation is rude. But, I put it on mine and included it on the wedding website. I'm certainly not gonna rely on word of mouth to get that very important message to everyone I invite. Being upfront about it gives them plenty of notice and time to find a sitter.

I've been running into the same problem. We followed the "proper etiquette" and addressed the invitations to only the parents and didn't put adult only reception on the invitations, and I regret it! We've still had people ask and even some people assume it's okay to bring their children. We are having some children at the wedding but only really close family we can't afford to have everyone bring their kids. Word of mouth hasn't worked either so now I'm putting it on our wedding website since most people have to rsvp online but I wish I had put it on the invitations as well.