5 Fun Ways to Include Children in Your Wedding Day

Whether it’s your own children, nieces and nephews, or your best friend’s child, it’s always so special to be able to include children in your wedding, but how? It’s especially tricky to navigate this when you want to include more than one child. 

Here are a few ideas to inspire you as you plan your big day.

Give Them Something Important to Do

If you plan to do a lot of DIY for your wedding day, get the children in your life involved – if they are old enough that is. Whether it’s placing invites in envelopes or having them help you with your wedding favors, there are so many little tasks they can assist you with. Plus, showing that you trust them with a project for a big day will really make them feel special.

Include Them in the Ceremony

There are so many fun ways to include younger children in your ceremony, particularly the procession. Get them to lead the procession as flower girls or ring bearers or hold up fun signs right before you and your wedding party enter. If there are older children, you can always get them to hold onto your bouquet or speech during the ceremony, anything that makes them feel involved and important.

Plan Some Photos

Since family and wedding party photos are an integral part of the day, why not plan a few special shots with the children in your life. Just make sure you work this into your timeline with your photographer. To make the photos fun for the kids, you can even work in a few props that fit in with the theme of your wedding.

Plan Something Special for the Reception

Children can also be a part of your reception. Using some fun, upbeat music, get them to lead you into your reception. You can even plan a special dance with them in the months leading up to your wedding, giving them something to look forward to on the day. 

Have Them Join the Cake Cutting

Who doesn’t love cake? Especially young children! This is another part of your reception that you can include children in. Plus, the moment makes for some wonderful photos. You can even offer them the first slice of your cake as a way to make them feel special in that moment. 

See! Including children in your wedding is easier than you might have thought. We hope these ideas have helped inspire you. 

Family Photo Basics for the Bride-to-Be

Even though your couple photos are the highlight of your day in terms of wedding photography, you also need to plan your family photos. 

Since more people are involved, family photos can be complicated and overwhelming but with the right guidance, they don’t need to be. 

Here are a few guidelines to help keep your wedding day timeline on track.

Who to Include?

Your parents, siblings, and grandparents should always be included in your family photos, so start with them and work your way backward from there. You only have your photographer for a limited number of hours, so start with the most important people in your family first.

If your parents are divorced and not really on the best of terms, or you have stepparents, you may need to split your photos up. Arrange to take a photo with each parent and their significant others individually. And if you have stepsiblings, you can choose to include them too, but this is not a must if you are not close. 

Keep Your Photographer in the Know

It’s important to not spring additional family photos on your photographer on the day or assume they know which photos you want. Plan your family photos with your photographer to ensure everything runs smoothly on the day and that there’s enough time for all your important shots. 

Keep Your Family in the Know

Along with ensuring your photographer knows which photos need to be taken, plan the photos with your family too. Some couples even choose to take family photos before their ceremony to save on time after the ceremony. Whatever you decide, make sure your family knows where to be and when to keep things on track. If you want to relieve some of the stress, ask your wedding planner or someone in your wedding party to assist you with this. 

Family Photos – What are Your Options?

Along with the classic family portraits, there are a few other photo options you might want to consider.

Getting Ready. If your parents or siblings are involved with helping you get ready, don’t forget to capture these candid moments with them. This includes the moment your mother or father see you in your wedding dress for the first time. This goes for both the bride and the groom. 

Pre-Ceremony. Those moments before you walk down the aisle are ideal for capturing photos of your family. They may be waiting in anticipation or talking and laughing together. These are the moments you don’t get to see, so ask your photographer to capture them. 

Parents and Sibling Portraits. You don’t need to be in all of your family photos. You can also take a few shots of your parents looking their best or your siblings posing together. Portraits of your grandparents looking their best are also a must. 

The Little Ones. If you plan to include children in your wedding, don’t forget to take one or two photos of just you and the little ones in your life. 

The Furry Ones. Including your furry family members in your wedding? Portraits with your pets should definitely be on your wedding shot list. 

The Toasts. Another way to get more photos of your family members is during toasts and speeches. If you know who will be giving a toast or saying a speech, make your photographer aware of it.

Overall, as long as you don’t forget to plan your family photos with the help of your photographer, this doesn’t need to be a stressful aspect of your wedding day. 

The Wedding Guest ‘B’ List – The Dos and Don’ts

Deciding who you want to invite to your wedding can be stressful, especially if you plan to have a smaller event. There are so many people from every stage of your life as well as your partner’s, so who do you choose? Over and above that, you need to consider the fact that not everyone will be able to make it. This is where that all-important ‘B’ list comes in.

When you need to create a second guest list, it’s important to tread carefully, which is why we have put together a list of dos and don’ts.

Do Start Early

The sooner you can make an ‘A’ and ‘B’ list, the better. If your family is planning to invite guests of their own, give them a deadline for those names. Being able to finalize your ‘A’ list by getting RSVPs early on will ensure you’re not inviting anyone from your ‘B’ list too late in the game. 

Aim to send your invites at least 8 – 10 weeks before the wedding if you have a second guest list. This gives you more time to ensure you’re not hurting anyone’s feelings. It’s also highly recommended that you use digital RSVPs to speed up the process. If you do plan to print your RSVP cards, make sure there is a batch with a later RSVP date – you don’t want someone on your ‘B’ list receiving a card with an RSVP date that’s passed.

Don’t Tell Everyone About Your Guest List

When you’re dealing with a ‘B’ list, it’s best to keep your guest list a secret until further notice. You never know who might let your wedding slip to the wrong person at the wrong time, leaving you in an awkward position. Your wedding planner, family, and bridal party are the only people you need to discuss your guest list with – just make sure everyone is aware that there’s a ‘B’ list.

Do Sort Your ‘B’ List

It really helps to know which people on your ‘B’ list you would prefer to have at your wedding by placing them at the top of the list. This way, once guests start falling off your ‘A’ list, you know who to send an invite to first. 

By keeping these simple dos and don’ts in mind, you can avoid any guest list awkwardness as you plan your wedding.