Bride And Groom’s Wedding Is Supposed To Be Child-Free, But One Guest Absolutely Cannot Handle Leaving Her Kiddo Behind

Ben Auxier

5 months ago

Shutterstock/Reddit

I don’t know how many times I’ve said this, but to reiterate into the void for a moment: STOP TAKING YOUR KIDS TO NON-KID EVENTS.

They won’t like it, and you’ll spend the entire time dealing with them not liking it.

Sometimes you just gotta get a sitter.

That said, if you were having a child-free wedding, would you ever consider making an exception for a family member?

Let’s see how this bride handles this situation.

WIBTA if I uphold our rule of child free wedding if it means my SIL won’t come?

My wedding is a micro event for around 25 people max in early August.

I have a sister with two kids under 3 and a brother with a kid who’s around 1 yo at the time.

We are child free and want our wedding to be as well.

Just a quick dinner and cake with family and friends, nothing special. Even our ceremony was a civil one with three witnesses earlier this month.

No kids at a very small wedding sounds entirely reasonable, and most folks were on board.

So my sister comes from across the country (500km so around 300 miles) and is happily leaving the kids with their paternal grandparents and is accomodating to our wishes and even said she’s happy for a child free weekend.

My SIL on the other hand is different. She and my brother live under 30mins away.

At first she was happy with our offer to hire an on site babysitter (I know they wouldn’t leave their child anywhere) or even two, knowing they’d be anxious.

Then about a month ago she let me know she can’t leave her child with a stranger, even them being at the other end of the same house and if their child couldn’t participate, she might have to stay home with the kid.

This mom is just plain not OK with not being around her, admittedly still very young, baby.

I then suggested she ask someone she knows and is comfortable with and we’d pay them what we’d pay for the other babysitter.

She said it’s difficult for her 1 year old to miss out on their aunt getting married.

What?

One year olds run around and throw food and scream, while cute of course they’re not missing out on anything! They don’t understand yet!

She’s wondering if she should make an exception for her SIL.

So now if the friend can’t come to babysit or doesn’t agree to our pay, am I a horrible bridezilla if I refuse to make an exception for a one year old on our “no kids” policy?

Is denying the one year old worth not having my SIL at my wedding?

I might cave if there were other kids who I had to turn away, the wedding was bigger and they’d get lost in the chaos/noise, but I fear they will cause some sort of disturbance no matter how well they behave.

The decision is up to her SIL. She can choose not to come to the wedding. She can also choose to let OP pay for a babysitter.

Here’s what the comments had to say on Reddit: