Many couples waffle about whether or not to include the children in their wedding invitations.
If you're on the fence, or if you've already decided that you want children to be there, you can make the whole experience more fun and exciting when you don't let yourself trip over these silly obstacles:

1. Don't have anything to for them to do at the reception.
   Most kids are pretty well behaved during the wedding ceremony, but many find the reception a bit long.
   You can avoid this by providing what is usually fairly inexpensive entertainment for the children.
   Is your wedding outside? Hire someone to play games with them.
   Is your wedding inside? Hire a baby sitter and plan a movie.
   And then have a time when the kids swarm through the room and then go back to their own affairs.
   They'll love it.
   Go make a special visit to say hello and welcome to the children.
   They'll feel noticed, appreciated and special.
   Hmm.
   Games, a movie, a chance to run around, a couple of chicken fingers and a State Visit from the Bride and Groom.
   Don't you wish everyone were so easily entertained! Well, their parents will be if you've allowed them both the chance for their children to be there AND a child-free date! That's relationship building at its finest!
2. Don't remember that weddings are where children meet their cousins and learn how to behave.
   If you leave the kids at home, when do they get to meet one another? This is where the littles get to meet the not-so-littles and develop serious cases of hero-worship.
   It's where connections get made that will carry over from generation to generation and family to family.
   A Wedding is where the stories that make up a family get made.
   
3. Don't remember that children love ritual and love the opportunity to participate.
   Weddings are magical for children.
   Even the boyest of boys will sit and stare in wonder at the big puffy dresses and the men in tuxes.
   I've seen small children sit quietly through the wedding ceremony, follow the vows with intensity and pipe right in when I ask the community for their support and celebration.
   It's dress-up and it's more.
   And they understand the solemnity of more.
   They'll be among your biggest allies.
   Why not use that to your advantage?

A little interaction with children at your wedding might just forge bonds that you will cherish for years.
Children remember the magic.
And long after your friends are unwilling to hear your wedding story one more time, you can get a sullen teenager to remember that he connected with his little cousin (or his big) at your wedding.
Those connections to the different generations give you a place of responsibility in your new clan.
That keeps your marriage solid.
Having children at your wedding can be a win-win situation for everyone.