Children of Guests and Website Wording

That's what my husband and I did. We put it on our wedding website and mentioned that the only children that will be in attendance are the ones in our bridal party!

We put “Adult reception to follow.” on our invitations, and the ceremony/reception were at the same location. My niece was the flower girl and was the only child there, although if we had any other nieces or nephews, they would have also been included!

Hi ! Here are some of the ways to inform your guests :

“Although we love your little ones, this is an adult only affair.”

“Children welcome at the ceremony, however reception is an adults only scene”

“Adult (18 and older) reception to follow.”

“Please join us for an adult reception at six o’clock.”

“Please note this will be an adults-only celebration.”

“Management request no children under 16 at the reception.”

“We respectfully request no children under 16 at the reception.”

“The bride and groom request that this be an adults-only reception.”

“Unfortunately we cannot accommodate children – thank you for your understanding.”

“[X] seats have been reserved in your honour. Please let us know if you will be joining us!”

“Due to limited venue space, adults only reception.”

“Due to budget/space limitations, we are unable to extend the invitation to children.”

“Although we adore your children, due to budget/space constraints we ask that only adults attend.”

“Although we love your children, we regretfully cannot accommodate them at the venue due to restricted numbers.”

“We’d love to have Harry and Luke there but unfortunately we’re limited by budget/space constraints. We hope you can still make it.”

“To allow all wedding guests, including parents, a night of relaxation and uninhibited revelry, we respectfully ask that no children attend the reception.”

“We love your kids but thought you might like a night off. Adults only please!”

“To give all our guests the opportunity to celebrate without having to worry about little eyes and ears, we politely request no children.”

“We hope you will understand our decision to make the wedding children-free, and take the opportunity to let your hair down and celebrate in style!”

“To allow all guests to relax and enjoy themselves, we have chosen to make our special day adults only. We thank you for your understanding.”

“Children of immediate family only please.”

“Respectfully, an adult occasion (18+). Infants under 12 months welcome.”

“Due to limited numbers, we hope you appreciate that children are only invited if named.”

“Unfortunately we are only able to accommodate children in the wedding party at our reception.”

“We wish we could include all children, but are unfortunately only able to invite immediate family.”

“Due to necessity rather than choice, it is children of immediate family only. We hope you understand and enjoy your night off!”

“Unfortunately due to space limitations, we are having an adults-only reception. The only children attending are those who are part of our wedding party. If anyone needs help with making arrangements for child care, please let us know and we will do our best to assist.”

Ours is the same way. We have our flower girl and ring bearer and his brother and sister. On our website in the Q&A section I put
“Are kids welcome? While we love your little ones, our wedding is going to be an adults only event so that everyone can relax and enjoy the evening.” My mom also suggested putting on the invitation “adults only reception”.

You can say Adults only on the website and word of mouth but it doesn’t go on the invite. Address it to the adults.


However be prepared for guests to be upset that you told them that they have to find childcare and one or more of your guests didn’t have to. Even if they were planning to get a babysitter anyway, it’s the principle of different rules for different guests that rubs people the wrong way.

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Thank you so much! I love these different wording options!

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Thank you! We've already had a few inquire about it (with limited attitude), but I imagine we'll get more. We are also planning on providing childcare recommendations on the website for those that need it (in addition to what the hotel already provides).

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Great, I'm happy to be helpful ! :-)

You can still use the adults only wording on your wedding website. Your niece and nephew don't count as part of the 'no kids' rule because they're in the wedding party

View Quoted Comment Our ceremony and reception are at the same location as well. Our nephews are ring bearers and my Fiance’s son will be 11 at the time of our wedding so those will be the only children at our wedding. We have a niece and nephew not in the wedding, so I would like an adults only reception aside from family. Is your niece staying the entire time? I don’t know if my sisters plan on having a sitter pick them up after dinner or not or if I should just deal? They aren’t the most behaved children.. so I’m really stressing it

View Quoted Comment She was just under 2yrs and stayed for a part of the reception. She and my bro/sister-in-law didn’t stay the entire time because they had a newborn who stayed home with my SIL’s parents.