bringing children - how to figure out logistics?

[flbluiiis]

My FI has three kids - boy 9, girl 7, and boy 5. I really want them to be at the wedding, but have no idea how to get this done logistically. FI and I were thinking we would be there 11 days Sun to Wed with the ceremony on Fri. I would want the kids to be there from Thurs to Sun...that way FI and I can get the stuff done we need for the wedding without having them there and then we can stay for a little mini moon after everyone is gone. The kids' uncle would be in the wedding party, so getting them home on Sun wouldn't be a problem. The big problem is getting them there on Thurs and figuring out the room situation.

 

For those that have kids or their FI/DH has kids...how did you make it work? Were they there with you the whole time?

 

We were considering having them come to the legal ceremony at the court house instead of flying them down, that way they would still be part of the wedding. However, I feel like that is a crappy way out of the situation, but it would save us a lot of money and stress.

[Love3]

We are bringing the children with us from day 1- day finish! I am sure family will be there to give us some free time if not then that's o.k too. I just couldn't imagine not incl the children

[flbluiiis]

My parents live in WI and we live in VA. My FI's mom lives with us but has stage 4 cancer, so we can't rely on her to be able to come down with them. The kids can fly back with their uncle, he lives 6 miles from us. The biggest problem is getting them down there 1/2 way through the week. Oh yeah AND we don't know if their bio mom will allow them to be there the whole week, she doesn't know the wedding is outta the country yet.

[ebredhawk]

to make a very very long story short, my FI has a 6 year old daughter and once her mother found out where and when our wedding was, she decided she was not allowed to go. because of this, we are having her come to the legal ceremony and making it super special for her (FSIL will be the only other adult there since she offered to be our witness and take pictures).

 

before this happened though, we were planning on her coming down with us and then leaving with FI's parents. there are requirements for kids travelling out of the country without their parents though, so if you decide to have them fly either in or out without your FI, make sure you check that out! at the resort another one of my FSIL's also offered to have my future stepdaughter stay with her and her family, so something like that could be an option too if you want some time or a whole night alone.

 

good luck to you with this!! it was definitely our most stressful wedding planning situation so i hope it works out well for you!

[Outdoor_girl1010]

My FI has a little girl (4 years old) and we talked about everything and then it was up to him to think about it. He came back with this, he wants her to be at our party back home after the wedding. She will get to be the flower girl there. He just didn't feel like it was right of him to ask anyone to watch her down there, when going down there is a vacation for everyone.

[Weddingin2010]

Our situation is a little different since we are getting married during a cruise - not really possible to arrive late or leave early. Our son will be 16 months at the time and I think he will stay with us the majority of the trip (8 nights) with the exception of the wedding night. That may change though since both sets of grandparents will be with us and have offered repeatedly to have him stay in their cabin. The cruise ship provides a pack n play so I think we'll just move it from room to room as needed.

 

Does your resort have any kids' programs during the day that they could attend?

[hockeymom97]

Quote:

Originally Posted by flbluiiis My FI has three kids - boy 9, girl 7, and boy 5. I really want them to be at the wedding, but have no idea how to get this done logistically. FI and I were thinking we would be there 11 days Sun to Wed with the ceremony on Fri. I would want the kids to be there from Thurs to Sun...that way FI and I can get the stuff done we need for the wedding without having them there and then we can stay for a little mini moon after everyone is gone. The kids' uncle would be in the wedding party, so getting them home on Sun wouldn't be a problem. The big problem is getting them there on Thurs and figuring out the room situation. For those that have kids or their FI/DH has kids...how did you make it work? Were they there with you the whole time? We were considering having them come to the legal ceremony at the court house instead of flying them down, that way they would still be part of the wedding. However, I feel like that is a crappy way out of the situation, but it would save us a lot of money and stress.

I have a son who will be 13 at our DW and he will be in Jamaica the entire time with us. I can't even imagine him not being there - he and I have been through so much together and he's just way too important to me to not be included. We have been lucky enough to have offers from my parents along with FI's parents as well as FBIL and FSIL to let my son spend a night with each of them so we can have some "adult" time I have a feeling our wedding night will be our only real night alone but that's ok - we're going to try and do a trip with just the two of us for our one year anniversary

[Moonrhea]

My FH has two boys 13 and 11, we wouldn't consider them not going with us. However it does make it easier that they are a little older. Actually I find the biggest benefit of choosing a DW is the boys are as excited as we are, and they've actually been interested in some of the wedding decisions. (I'm working on them to do a little speech for their dad).

They are going down with us, but we're staying 2 weeks and they're going to have to come home with my family. We've travelled with them lots before, and never been asked for any paperwork, but always figure it's better to be on the safe side, especially since my parents last names are different, as far as we know we'll need to get a notarized letter, with permission from their mom. Luckily we're on good terms so that won't be a problem

[Destination Scout]

We flew in to Mexico a week before our wedding and stayed after the following week. The kids flew down with us and then went home the day after the wedding with one of our guests. We hired a nanny to stay with the boys while we were on our honeymoon the week after. It was great to have them with us. We spent a few days traveling around the country visiting ruins, staying in little hotels and teaching them that not everyone gets to live like us.