How to Properly Say “No Kids” at Your Wedding

30 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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In this concise tutorial, Jamie Wolfer explains how to clearly communicate a child‑free policy on wedding invitations. He emphasizes the importance of precise envelope addressing—distinguishing between “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” (the couple only) and “The Smith Family” (the whole household). He advises sending separate invitations to adult children who live elsewhere. He then outlines three mandatory locations for the child‑free statement: the outer envelope, the inner invitation suite (details card, RSVP card, or the invitation itself), and the wedding website. Wolfer suggests using light‑hearted phrasing or rhymes but warns against language that could be perceived as exclusionary, urging a respectful, paper‑based notification that children are not invited.

Chapters

If you want childfree, it's got to be in the invitation suite. You have to put it there. Let's be really cautious about how you're addressing your invitations. Your envelopes should be really, really clear on who is invited, who that invitation is inviting. What's the difference between those two? Mr. and Mrs. Smith means the couple. The Smith family means the whole household that lives there. So if there's an adult child that doesn't live there that's also invited, they get their own invitation sent to their address. Additionally, inside the card, whether it's a details card, an RSVP card, or on the invitation itself, you need to say that it's childfree. You can come up with any sort of cute phrasing, use any sort of fun little limerick or rhyme you see online to make yourself feel better about making this statement, or to make it sillier, to make it lighthearted. But whatever you do, don't say it's because you want the adults to let loose, because some people might not like that. You need to communicate it physically on paper to the people that children are not invited. So outside the invitation, inside the invitation, and additionally, as the final frontier, your wedding website.