John Kuntz/PD Katy Brent, a teacher, not only welcomed children at her July 2007 wedding, she set aside a special area stocked with activity bags to keep them from being bored. The children's corner was a converted stall at the setting for her reception, a refurbished barn on her family's Burton Township farm.
Fancily dressed children run madly through the reception hall, popping balloons, nearly knocking down Grandma on the dance floor. Look, they're sneaking tipsy sips from half-empty glasses left on tables.
Where in the world is their mother?
Often, she's sitting at the bridal table with her groom.
Second weddings, brides and grooms with lots of little cousins, and out-of-town guests with youngsters -- all can add a new line to the wedding budget. A wedding sitter, who brings along lots and lots of games and crafts will set the hosts back a few hundred bucks, but that few hundred will buy a lot of peace.
"I tell brides that if they want to have children at their weddings, they need to make sure they are accommodated," said Brenda Kucinski, special events director for Catan Fashions. The wedding sitter trend, popular on East and West coasts, is making its way to Northeast Ohio. A good thing. Kucinski estimates that seven of every 10 brides she plans weddings for want to invite children to their receptions.
John Kuntz/PD Katy Brent and her dad, Dan Whiting Sr., waltz while some of the younger guests at Brent's July 2007 barn wedding reception watch. Earlier in the evening, children played in a special area Brent set aside just for kids.
Accommodating means a child-height buffet and an array of entertainment, or else you can end up with a bunch of bored children. You know what that means. Kid chaos.
Kid-style entertainment can save a reception, which can be a couple of long hours of "sit still" and "be quiet" through dinner and wedding toasts before the music and dancing start.
Wedding sitters made it easy for parents, especially out-of-towners, to come to Melanie Whiting's wedding. "It was the deciding factor in whether they could come and share our day," said Whiting, a third- and fourth-grade teacher in Avon.
She and her husband, Ben, decided on an adults-only reception in May 2005, but set aside a couple of rooms at a nearby hotel where their wedding guests were staying. Whiting's mom hired two family friends who shepherded 10 children through swimming, pizza and videos while their parents enjoyed the reception minutes away.
Keeping young guests occupied at weddings...
Having a separate space for children while their parents are at a reception is "a win-win," said David Rabinsky, director of social catering at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Cleveland. Parents relax while kids take in video games, crafts or a magician in a room that can be outfitted with small sofas and armchairs, kiddie tables and chairs, and even cribs. Depending on the entertainment, food (a kid-height buffet offering chicken fingers and mac and cheese) and number of children, the price range is $350 to $750, complete with professional baby sitters the Ritz-Carlton hires. A kids area can be a happy compromise when part of the family thinks children should be invited to the reception and another segment says no way. "The children can still get all dressed up and go to the reception for dessert or dancing," said Rabinsky, then adjourn to the kids room.
Though the wedding-sitter trend is not as big here as on either coast, Kucinski said she still has guests who walk into the party room and ask if there is a kids table. She often has one -- the table farthest in the corner of the reception room. She also has a plan to give sitters. For starters, she suggests a paper table cloth with a welcome message from the bride and groom that kids can decorate, but says to save the noisy games and the glow sticks until after the toast. Kucinski arranges for pillows and blankets so that little ones can bed down on the floor.
Art on Wheels, the Cleveland nonprofit arts organization that takes art supplies and teachers to nursing homes and schools, recently sent out postcards describing wedding-sitter services. Executive director Carolina Martin saw the need for the service after her two children were married one summer.
"It's been a great hit," said Martin, whose teachers have helped little wedding guests make frames and treasure boxes, jewelry and foam sculptures -- all with smocks to cover dresses and suits. Art on Wheels charges $150 per hour, which includes supplies and instruction for up to 20 children. "We just put the supplies out on a table, and it's like a magnet. The kids don't want to leave."
Whiting helped her sister-in-law Katy Brent make pinwheels and arrange bags full of crayons, activity books, puzzles, Go Fish decks and small toys for each of the 15 to 20 children who attended Brent's July wedding. Then they set aside a children's play area with table and chairs in an old barn on her family farm in Burton Township. The barn, freshly painted inside and out and aglow with twinkling lights, was the elegant country wedding's setting.
While their parents had cocktails within sight, the children played in a stall that used to serve birthing cows. "It worked," said Brent, a fifth-grade teacher in Chagrin Falls. "The children didn't have to act in a certain way. They could just be kids
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