weddings

'When a couple arrived at my child-free wedding with their kids, I asked them to leave.'

 

Like bars and brothels, weddings are a place for adults.

While a few people choose to invite children to their wedding and the reception, a lot of the time it’s a kid-free zone.

There is alcohol. There is your embarrassing cousin kissing your mate from high school. There is your brother-in-law rapping along in the corner whilst breakdancing.

There are some things children should never witness.

So when a woman on Reddit arrived at her own child-free wedding, she was shocked to see a couple had arrived with none other than their two children.

The title of the thread was “Am I the asshole for kicking out a couple who brought their baby and toddler to my wedding because I wanted a child-free event?”

She explained that the bride and groom weren’t even close to the couple.

“This couple I’m not very close with but the wife is a long-time family friend so I felt that I should invite her. To be clear, all of my invitations stated that there were to be no children at this wedding. But she and her husband showed up with their infant and toddler (who I think is like 3-4),” she began the Reddit thread.

She explained that she let is slide at the actual ceremony, considering her focus was on the fact she was marrying the love of her life.

The bride assumed the children, like the flower girls, would be picked up after the ceremony, and that they wouldn’t arrive at the reception.

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Until they did.

“Anyway the reception rolls around (I’m fast forwarding through irrelevant details about the wedding but it was beautiful and everything went as smoothly as could be expected). The couple comes and, lo and behold, they still have their children,” she wrote.

“I had many other guests and didn’t really feel like dealing with it so I asked our event planner to go over to them and discuss whether someone was picking up the child as the reception (and wedding, frankly!) were not supposed to have children,” she added.

The bride continued to explain that everyone was “drinking and loud and rowdy” and that a crying child, alongside a child running around, was not part of the plan, especially given the infant already had to be taken out during the wedding ceremony.

“My event planner went to talk to the couple. I could tell they were arguing with my event planner though so I went over to help him.

“I think they thought I came to rescue them because they started going on about how rude my event planner was. I explained that I had actually sent him over to discuss the children. I reiterated that the event was child-free and said that I had stated so clearly on my invitations,” she wrote in the post.

“The wife gave a sort of apology and then assured me that they were capable of minding their own children to make sure they didn’t get in the way of anything. I said that wasn’t really the point. That’s when my now-husband comes over and he and the other woman’s husband begin going back and forth and things got a little heated,” she added.

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The bride snapped and asked the couple to leave.

“I snapped and said that they just needed to go, which, thankfully they did without much more noise. Still, the whole scene was incredibly embarrassing which is exactly what I wanted to avoid,” she wrote.

She finished the post by asking if her asking the couple to leave made her an asshole?

The answer, obviously, is no. And the people of Reddit agree.

“Absolutely not the asshole you stated it on the invitation and asked them politely first. I feel awful that a day that was meant to be the best of your life was tarnished by the event,” wrote one user.

“Yeah for them to argue about it was even more outrageous. You don’t have to explain or justify why you didn’t want kids at your own wedding,” wrote another.

Others were just downright empathetic.

“Politeness just doesn’t work with some people, and it really is a shame that couple felt entitled to do that to OP’s special day,” wrote one user.

“If it was clearly stated that there was to be no children, then it is not your fault. I would have done the same and asked them to leave,” wrote another.

A rule is a rule.

Especially at a wedding.

Have you had to confront a guest at a wedding? Tell us in the comments!