Wedding
Parenting

Taking a Baby to a Wedding

Last Saturday was the long awaited day we had been excited about for months; the wedding of my younger Brother and his fiancee. Shortly before they got engaged last year we had just had our little girl, and so I knew we would be taking a near 1 year old or a 1 year old to a wedding. I was pretty nervous at the thought of it, but it was surprisingly easy.

I had read a fair few blog posts offering up various bit and pieces of advice. The main piece of advice was that we ALL needed to enjoy the day (emphasis on ALL), and the best way to do this was to make it as stress free as possible. So here’s my list of hints and tips, which also recap the day too.

  1.  Enjoy some baby-free relaxing time in the morning, as you know that for the rest of the day you’ll be busy looking after a baby. My sister and I treated ourselves to having our hair done and it was so nice to leave the little one with the husband and escape for a bit.
  2. Make sure that your child sticks to their normal nap routine as much as possible. Our morning nap was successful, but the afternoon nap not so much as she needed it during the service.
  3. Know where your exits are in case you need to quickly duck out of the service. Fortunately we were sitting near one, and the door at the back of the church had a window which is where my husband watched most of the service.
  4. Take all the snacks in the world to keep your child happy for as long as possible. We took loads of breadsticks and Organix carrot sticks.
  5. Use the basket under the buggy as extra storage for you. My bag was tiny so I used the buggy basket for my flip flops and make-up bag, as well as various other essential items. You can also make use of any spare space in the baby changing bag too.
  6. Pack a spare dress for the baby as you never know what might happen. We were fortunate and didn’t have any accidents. Not only pack a spare dress, pack spare baby-gro socks, bibs etc…..We also took a sleep suit with us, which allowed me to get our little one ready for bed at the venue, so she could go straight to bed when we got to the hotel at 1am!
  7. If you’re child is regularly car sick (like ours, although she hasn’t been for a while) we avoided placing her in the car seat in her dress. There was a bit of driving involved between church and venue, so between the two we stripped her down to her baby-gro to avoid any accidents.
  8. During the meal I had enough Ella’s Kitchen pouches for every course which were consumed really quickly, along with bits of my meal, and a portion of mash too.
  9. Other children, They are an endless source of entertainment. Our little girl really enjoyed crawling around the floor and playing with the other children at the wedding.
  10. Ear defenders! I cannot recommend these highly enough. They were amazing and allowed our daughter to sleep during the duration of the evening, so my husband and I could have a boogie.

The hangovers the next day were pretty dire, and thankfully my Mum was able to look after our daughter whilst I went back to bed for a cat nap. Eventually we had to check-out, and hang around the hotel for a while keeping my daughter happy with lots of walks to the nearby river,  whilst my husband sorted out logistics with cars (why do you always have that after a wedding). I’m so impressed and happy that we managed to stay for the duration, relatively stress free. It was much easier than i thought, and I think a lot of that is down to careful planning.

We all had a wonderful day at the wedding, it was lovely to see my Brother getting married. The service, venue, food, wine, cake and speeches were amazing! Plus dancing to a ceilidh band was interesting too!

Have you taken a baby to a wedding? Or taking a baby to a future wedding? I would love to hear from you.

Claire x

The Pramshed

28 Comments

  • Bridie By The Sea

    Oh this is another useful one for me…we have a wedding coming up in November and I’m nervous! I would never have thought of ear defenders but that’s a great idea so she can sleep 🙂 Sounds like you had a fab time xx

  • A Mum Track Mind (@amumtrackmind)

    Thank God for Grandparents when there are hangovers to contend with! I know my Mum has rescued me in the just the same way after a party or wedding. Really useful tips for anyone who is taking little people to a wedding. Sounds like you had a wonderful day. Thanks for hosting with me as always on #fortheloveofBLOG xx

    • The Pramshed

      They literally saved me so that I could have a little power nap, I felt so much better afterwards. We had a lovely time at the wedding, and it is perfectly possible to take a baby to a wedding, and for the adults to have a good time. Thanks for reading and commenting x

  • flyingsolo7

    So glad you managed to enjoy the day, I think you usually find everyone is quite forgiving of screaming babies and noisy toddlers at weddings, they are family events after all and loads of people to entertain them! #FortheloveofBLOG

  • Lydia C. Lee

    Great tips! We went to a wedding and there was a nappy explosion all over my partner’s shirt. We had to go home and change between the ceremony and reception! But I guess that’s a little hard to prepare for! #FortheloveoftheBLOG

  • Mrs Lighty

    Sounds like you had a fab day! The spare dress tip is good if you have a girl but harder with a boy…for the weddings we’ve been to with Baby Lighty, he had a little suit at 9 weeks old and trousers, braces and a bow tie at 13 months, so not the sort of thing you’d have spares of. We took snacks, but let him eat the wedding breakfast buffet st 13 months old; it was an Indian / English wedding and had a mixture of both sorts of foods. He loved it!! Agree about the ear defenders, we use them all the time at parties / weddings! #fortheloveofBLOG

  • Susie Hawes

    Ear defenders a great idea! We have a wedding this afternoon actually!! But we’ve done a few now. We are getting the inlaws to collect our daughter after the wedding breakfast so we can stay til the end. In worried about nap time as its when the service is roughly but we will hopefully get her to sleep straight after. I am armed with snacks and books and a spare outfit! Glad you had a lovely day xx
    #fortheloveofBLOG

  • Ali Duke

    We took my daughter to a wedding the day before her first birthday. My changing bag was rammed with spare clothes etc, but we didn’t need them. At the meal they had kids meals and baby food which was very helpful.
    #fortheloveofBLOG

  • alisonlonghurst

    Great advice! It’s been a while since I took babies to weddings, but I agree, it can all work out just fine with a bit of planning – so your post will really help people, I’m sure. Alison x #fortheloveofBLOG

  • Rachel (Lifeofmyfamilyandme)

    Oh ear defenders! Such a good idea! My two are 11 and 5. I actually dread taking my 5 year old to christenings as she can not sit still and talks loudly! The only weddings we’ve been to are for adults only (yay for me!) Mind you she was an angel at my wedding so hopefully she is growing out of the can’t sit still age 🙂 #fortheloveofblog

  • Jo (Mother of Teenagers)

    I am glad it all went well and you had a lovely time. I took my son to a couple when he was younger as he was a page boy and my daughter was 17 months old when we got married so we took her to ours. Other than that if I could I would leave them with the grandparents, so that we could enjoy ourselves as kids are not very understanding of hangovers are they? x #fortheloveofBLOG

  • Twin Pickle

    We did a few weddings with our daughter when she was little and they were never as bad as I thought. I think it just depends if your baby is happy to sleep in a stroller, which ours was, otherwise I can see it being challenging!! #fortheloveofBLOG

  • Kat

    Glad you had a lovely time! The hangovers though…ouch! Having a pamper in the morning must have been really lovely. A recent wedding we attended, there was a little play area in the church for the little ones which helped keep them busy! #fortheloveofblog

  • Angela Watling

    Sounds like it all went really well! I didn’t know they did baby ear defenders. I’m not sure my toddler would keep them on mind… We took my daughter to a wedding at 3 months old and we did the same as you with clothes. Better to be safe than sorry! #fortheloveofBLOG

  • Catherine

    Such great advice. The wedding we went to recently was a no baby wedding. It felt strange but nice as it was the first full day and night without her. She stayed with my parents. Love all of these tips tho Go and will defiantly refer back to! Glad you had a lovely time! #fortheloveofBLOG

  • Sonia

    Yes. She was only 8 weeks at the time! To be honest, being a family wedding, everyone wanted to help and I only really had her handed back to be fed and because I was breast feeding, I couldn’t drink so no hangover! Great tips though, especially stripping down in the car- mine were all sicky babies!! #fortheloveofBLOG

  • Becci - The Unnatural Mother

    You make it sound so easy. If i took my 2 to a wedding it would be the death of me. I have a friends wedding next year where i am bridesmaid and she has saved me the choice and said it’s a child free wedding ( im secretly pleased ) #fortheloveofBLOG

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