Anyone have large amount of children at wedding under 7- how did it go?

I think this is definitely going to be a case by case basis. I have been to numerous weddings with lots of children, and a lot of them have turned out completely disastrous. Also, most of them ended up having a family reunion feel, rather than a party vibe. However, my brother and SIL‘s wedding had a lot of children & it went fine. No disruptions during the ceremony or anything. Most of the people there with children left shortly after dinner. But they also had 250+ guests, so it didn’t feel like a ton of people left early. The majority of those people were cousins, as most of their friends didn’t have children yet, so it definitely didn’t affect the party vibe- the young people without children partied well into the wee hours of the morning.

All this to say, I think it really depends on the guests, which guests have children, and what sort of vibe you are going for. If you are going for more of a laid-back, family event, then I wouldn’t worry about it at all. If you are wanting more of a party vibe, I would take a look at your guest list and determine which guests will be bringing children – are those your high energy party friends who are going to be on the dance floor? Will it negatively affect the vibe you’re going for if those people leave shortly after dinner to take their kids home?

View Quoted Comment Hmmm... I envision a formal-ish event where everyone is happy and on dance floor. No crying children. Everyone staying until end of night (10 pm). I don't know what I'm expecting! Haha!!!

View Quoted Comment Well that all sounds very chill and reasonable. Except maybe the crying children thing LOL Children are super unpredictable.
Also, if you have parents who allow their small children to stay late into the evening, I would highly suggest not allowing them on the dance floor. I don’t know how many times I have seen a small kid on the dance floor after people have been drinking get knocked down and crack their head. I know the parent thinks it’s “so cute” their little is on out there dancing, but it’s really just a recipe for disaster.

We are in our mid-30s, and, as most of our friends and cousins have kids, we decided to invite all of our guests’ children. Most declined the offer (wanted a date night), but we had 13 children, ages 9 months to 12 years old in attendance. We had a few minor hiccups, but, overall, their good behavior far exceeded my expectations. I’ve been to several weddings were children cried during the ceremony, so we asked our Chaplin to set up a microphone. Although several children in attendance were fussy before the ceremony, no one cried during it. My nephew did, however, run across the aisle right before/during the beginning of my entrance to join his mom/my SIL (she was holding one of the church doors open for me). But, if it wasn’t for the photo evidence, most guests wouldn’t have ever known, as it happened so quickly and before most guests turned around to look at the doors. My dad and I laughed about it, and it probably helped with my nerves. We provided crayons, coloring books, and craft kits as favors for the reception, and we saw quite a few kids working on their creations during speeches and after dinner. Many children joined us on the dance floor after dinner (there was a little bit of running around back and forth to their tables but the parents were close behind). They helped start a dance circle, which got everyone on the dance floor. One of my other nephews was overheated and tried to take off his dress shirt, but his dad/my BIL immediately pulled him to the side to help him cool down (he only has two bottoms undone). We did try to take a large group photo on the dance floor, but, with all their funny faces, we didn’t really get a good photo. But, otherwise, we didn’t see or hear of any other issues. Most of our guests with children did leave between 8-9pm, but a few left after our cake cutting.

And, I should mention, we did make some changes to our vision to accommodate children - (1) instead of tall, lighted candlesticks and lots of vintage decor we used LED tea lights in vintage-inspired votives, (2) instead of a mix of tall and low centerpieces we used lower profile centerpieces throughout, and (3) we used artificial flowers in some places to prevent any damage from occurring, if a child accidentally knocked something over. We did, however, keep (1) our black tie optional dress code, (2) open bar (we did limit it to cocktail hour and after cake cutting), and (3) plated dinner with wine options.

Since most of my friends and family have kids we are allowing kids. So far I have 4 confirmed kids 2 of which are my flower girl and ring bearer. I am supplying activities for the kids for the reception. I've seen lots of weddings with kids and no major disasters. I do know that both my sisters asked for no kids and had lower attendance.

It definitely depends on the kids and their parents. I've seen some kids behave better than adults, but A LOT of kids who really should have been left at home. My brother and I had the fear of God put into us before attending any weddings when we were younger, but my mom had friends whose kids played tag around their 3-tier cake that was sitting on pillars that a family member had made from scratch and drove in from over 3 hours away. If you know the kids who will be there will be well-behaved and their parents won't just let them "cry it out" during the ceremony or turn a blind eye to them acting up at your reception, then you're probably fine.

We had a dozen kids under 12 at our wedding and they were all very well behaved. Like everyone else said, it really depends on the parents. All were on their best behavior at our wedding, but we've also attended weddings where toddlers were running around as waitstaff was trying to serve dinner.