A (Mostly) Kid-Free Wedding

This seems to be a pretty common debate in the wedding world - to invite kids or not?  As you will learn, I have the world's smallest family.  This means I don't have any little cousins our nieces or any other children I need to invite.  We do, however, have two very special kids on the guest list - Mr. B's son (M) and daughter (A).  That was pretty much where we decided to end the list of under-age guests.  Pretty much...

Trying to avoid this (Image via Etiquette Consulting, Inc. / Photo by David Murray)

At one point we thought about inviting the children of some of our guests who are friends with A & M.  With the guest list tight as it was, though, we didn't want to have to remove certain friends to make room for children.  No kids of friends - decision made.  We then thought about Mr. B's sisters' children.  There are only three of them in total and they are Mr. B's family - we easily figured out a way to make room for them on the list.

As cute as they are, we don't plan on this at our wedding (Image via 100 Layer Cake / Photo by Flory Photo)

That's about it - we are having an adults-only wedding with (up to) five children there.  Not the end of the world!  I don't plan on making coloring books or figuring out activities for them, which a lot of brides who have a kid-friendly wedding have to do.  They all get along so well and A & M love my friends.  They'll be too busy busting a move and eating cake to care that they're in the minority.  In fact, I think M will actually really enjoy being part of an adults-only crowd. 

We don't plan on asking our friends to leave their babies at home alone during the weekend, though.  I am looking into babysitting services to recommend to guests while they enjoy the wedding.  I know making a trip to Savannah is an expense and I hope families are able to make a little vacation out of it.  

The only question I have left is a pretty major one but not an uncommon one - how do I let guests know to make other arrangements?  I have a section on our website for childcare but not everyone will go to the site or notice the link.  I will use specific names on the invitation (John Smith, not The Smith Family), but I've heard brides complain about how people assume they can bring their whole family.  I was recently in a wedding that had the following at the bottom of the reception details, "Respectfully, an adult only occasion."  I like it!  But then will people wonder why the 5 previously mentioned kids get to go?

So now the important question - should I be safe and add wording on the reception detail card or should I assume everyone will know that we are only inviting the specific people listed on the invitation?  What did you do?  Did it work?