Kid-Friendly



WRITER CREDIT: 
PHOTOGRAPHER CREDIT: 
Kid-Friendly | Got children on your guest list? Keep them entertained—and self-contained—at rehearsal dinners, receptions, and more

"Whether you should invite children to a wedding or not,” says Calder Clark of Blue Moon Events, “can be a hot-button topic. But it doesn’t have to be a problem if you treat the children with Southern hospitality, just as you would your adult guests.” For Calder, that means letting kids be kids—within reason. To that end, at rehearsal dinners and receptions, she suggests creating a table loaded with treats and toys to help occupy the little ones while the hours pass. It doesn’t have to be anything super-fancy, she says. “Children aren’t tabletop snobs!” she points out. “They don’t expect sterling flatware and silken table linens, so have fun. Think butcher paper and crayons, twill linens and bowls of candy, and mellow, merry toys.”

Calder’s Table Tips

Consider height and comfort. If your young guests are all less than five years old, create a low table by using a legless tabletop on stacked and secured milk crates with low stools or baby chairs on the sides. Opt for cushioned chairs over folding ones.
Have a plan B. Create a backup kids camp room with books, DVDs, snacks—and supervision.
Don’t be trashy. Choose unwrapped, no-choke candies for refuse and safety purposes, and skip lollipops, gum, and other mess-makers. If there are wrappers? Let the kids know to stash spent paper in their goodie bags.
Play nice. Stock the table with quiet activities that require little or no supervision. Noisemakers and silly string impinge on adults, so opt for alternatives like Silly Putty and Rubik’s cubes instead.
Be age-appropriate. If wedding-going parents want a “date night,” attending children younger than two years need the care and attention of an on-site sitter. But children ages three to 10 can be seated at a kids’ table. Let the older ones supervise the younger ones and check in on all from time to time.

The Wedding Row

October 4 2019
Y’all. I almost don’t want to write a thing here because the shots from Folly Beach’s Wiki Wiki Sandbar are so freakin’ amazing they need no explanation, embellishment, or extrapolation. I mean,...

October 3 2019
Psst! Want a sneak peek into how a photographer helps a couple warm up before the lens long before the Big Day? Here’s how it’s done, Charleston-style, by Priscilla Thomas of Priscilla Thomas...

October 2 2019
Inali and Leon met on a college trip to Washington D.C. back in 2012. Inali’s first impression? Leon was the strangest man she had ever met. Six years later, after some solid QT together, she...

October 1 2019
We love how bride Savannah operates. That dress she’s sporting? It was purchased at what was formerly The Gown Collective (and now is Magnolia Bride, an upscale gown consignment shop downtown on...

September 30 2019
The stars aligned for Emily and Meryl not once, not twice, but three times to make sure they ended up a couple. The first time, Emily sidled up to a bar where Meryl was slinging drinks when sparks...

September 27 2019
If you’re craving a love story and the tale of how this wedding at The Gadsden House came together, click here for the original story that ran in summer 2019 Charleston Weddings. If you’re wanting to...

September 26 2019
You know all those paradise weddings you’ve seen? Those where the bride and groom are standing on a windswept beach with palms blowing in the wind and the bride’s veil flutters almost as much as her...

September 20 2019
Sparks flew a few years back on the Fourth of July in Charleston when Michelle was introduced to Patrick. After what we are assuming was one memorable holiday, and after dating for two-ish years,...