Monday, August 16, 2010

Wed Recap: The little ones...

One thing we knew for sure was that there would be lots of kids at our wedding.  Out of a guest list of about 190 people in attendance, at least 15 to 20 of those were kids ranging from 6 months to 16 years in age. 

Our 2 little nephew ring bearers hanging out pre-ceremony


By Grant Sharp

Now everyone knows how hard it is to keep kids entertained at a wedding, at least during the ceremony portion.  So I had lots of ideas to keep them busy and active.  And it had to start with our four ring bearers (3 of which were Mr Fix It's nephews and 1 was my nephew) and our flower girl (my little cousin). 






Our Junior Groomsmen (nephew) keeping some of the ring bearers entertained
Besides the favor boxes that were specific to the younger aged children that I blogged about here, and the little kids corner area that we set up with portable DVD players, lollipops, craft kits, coloring books and two paid babysitters, we had a few things that I didn't share previously.  Oh, and that kids corner with the babysitters?   Yeah, there were at least a couple kids in that room the entire night!  So it was definitely a good idea and money well spent!

Of course, the kids had fun with the ribbon wands that we left on the ceremony chairs for all the guests to wave as we walked back down the aisle:



By Kathleen Wolsfeld

And they loved the flashing sunglasses and mouthguards that we gave them for the reception (though the flashing didn't really show up well in these pictures)

By Kathleen Wolsfeld

By Chad Beever

A big hit were the table top bowling pin sets.  And the older ones danced the night away.





You can imagine how many fun shots the younger ones took in the photobooth (there were at least SIXTY photo strips of my flower girl, junior groomsmen and younger cousins alone in the booth!).


They adored the chocolate fountain...Yum!


By Heather Hughes

And these two would not stop bothering our magician...he was so great with them!





My sister said my little 3 year old nephew is still playing with his favor box toys even today four months later!  But probably the best investment I made for the ring bearers was for the ceremony portion of our day.  When they made their way to the end of the aisle as seen here:







A little bribery goes a long way:







I told their mothers that they could just gather them in the front row to sit down so they didn't have to stand on the altar for a good 45 minutes to an hour.  And waiting on their chairs in the front row, I had these little goodies:




Silent and yummy and entertaining!



I got these little mini travel sized magna doodles at Target for like $10 each and they kept the boys busy during the ceremony.  And you can't go wrong with a sucker!  Especially the ones that last for hours.


By Grant Sharp

But for some reason, my sister's in-laws felt the need to also have a bag of Reese's Pieces waiting for my little nephew.  That was something we had not planned on and right at the beginning of the ceremony he dropped the bag and the little candies spilled everywhere in the front and into the aisle.   Now I did not see them as they tried to quickly pick them up but apparently several of the wedding party and family members at the front of the altar saw all this go down and started laughing thinking it was just hilarious.  Good thing I had the sucker there for him so that he wasn't in tears about losing all of his candies!

And for added convenience for the guests with the youngest kids...these precious babies:







I even had our rental company swap out 4 of the chivari chairs for highchairs....which my family profusely thanked us for!  And as a special treat for these super young ones who can't really play with toys, we gifted them these fun little personalized bibs:

By Heather Hughes

By Chad Beever

Share time:  Did you do anything different or special for the younger guests you invited or included in your wedding?

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP:  Read the above information.  I think it speaks for itself.  Be sure to have little things throughout your day available for little ones to be entertained and kept busy so they don't get bored - or loud!

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography
All raw video footage provided courtesty Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

12 comments:

Nicole-Lynn said...

I think it's so important to keep the little ones entertained.. you did a great job! I especially love the personalized baby bibs! So cute!

We're having our venue switch out chairs for high chairs where they are needed, and hoping to have a kids table if there's room, if not we'll have kids things like coloring books at the tables they will sit at.

Belinda C said...

Just when I think I couldn't possibly love any more of your wedding than I already have....you show another recap and there I go again!
Why wasn't I invited? lol

Kim said...

All of these ideas are so amazing! We will be having some children at our wedding, but most of them are older children (14+), and the little ones are going to be very little newborns, so I think we sill skip the baby-sitter and the games. But what you did is so amazing it makes me wish we were having a wider range of little ones at our wedding!

GM said...

The kids are so cute! We've invited a few kids so when we get all our RSVPs back and figure out which ones are actually coming, we'll decide what we can provide to keep them entertained and quiet :) Love the magna doodles during the ceremony!

Heather said...

You are so sweet to go all out for the kids in a way that ensured they had a good time and that things ran smoothly overall. I love all of your ideas, and think the picture of the baby chewing on the ribbon wand is too cute! These kids are all so precious. As I’ve mentioned, we didn’t have children at our wedding, since the majority of our friends and family members don’t have young kids right now. I suppose we could have invited my cousin’s four small children, but they would have been the only ones there, and they are just terrors, since she lets them run wild at home. The only “kids” at our wedding were two 16 year olds, who were able to participate in just about everything the adults were, aside from the drinking!

very married said...

all of these kids are absolutely adorable! I love how one of the nephews is dragging the other down the aisle!

our wedding ceremony was like 20 min long... the best thing we could do for the kids!

honey my heart said...

all of your little ones are just too adorable!

Genevieve said...

So cute!!!

Salt said...

We didn't have kids that young (our youngest was 11), but you did such a great job keeping them entertained! Most people wouldn't have gone so far above and beyond and I'm sure the kids AND their parents were so grateful for everything you did for them! I love the magnadoodle for the ceremony idea!

redwhitebride said...

ah... those cute little guests!! you're so sweet with all you did for them. we didn't invite any children due to budget issues. but i think even if we would, only about 10% of our guests have kids.

Mrs T said...

You really went above and beyond - those parents must have LOVED you for being so thoughtful.

Cyn said...

They are all so precious and it looks like they had a great time!

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