Cutting the Guest List

Q: I am having serious issues with my guest list. My family is huge and just recently I told my parents that we would have to cut out the children. The problem is most of the children are my first cousins. Everybody wants to come. What can I do to satisfy both sides, I'm feeling really bad not having them come, but if I invite one I cannot invite another.

A: I can understand the stress this must be causing you! It's hard enough to plan a wedding, but to try to please all the family members involved makes it exceptionally difficult! Here's what I would suggest: in order to please everyone, or at least make an attempt to, you may want to invite the children to one aspect of the wedding, and not the entire wedding. For example, you can invite the kids to either the ceremony only, or the reception only. This will limit the time they spend with you on your special day, yet it will involve them in some way, so as not to insult anyone. If you only invite them to the ceremony, this saves you from having to pay for their meals and worry about them running around during your reception. If you only invite them to the reception, you don't have to worry about them interrupting the actual ceremony, and you can arrange to have a babysitter on premises during the reception to keep the kids under control and ensure that they're well behaved.

Either way you look at it, you'll be incorporating the children in some way, yet they won't be present for the entire day. Hopefully this will come close to satisfying all parties involved!