Paramount to consider is how you will keep your child attendants smiling, clean, and content during a long, long, LONG reception. Here are a few ideas that might help:

The Cardinal Rule: Keep this is mind when planning anything involving the children in your wedding—kids do not do well when they are hungry, tired, or bored. This is when crankiness, tantrums, and misbehavior take over, turning once agreeable, lovely children into evil dictators.

Grumbling Stomachs: To ward off hunger before the meal is served, make available a small snack bag with child-friendly fare such as goldfish crackers, raisins, and mini-pretzels. (Think snacks that don’t stain!) You may also wish to equip their places with a lidded cup to avoid spills and messes. If you are worried about how this will look with your table settings, use “invisible” clear plastic cups or find kid cups that work with your color scheme. Personalizing the cup with the child’s name is always a big hit (and makes the cup easy for the child to find throughout the event). Check out Learning Express Toys for a great selection of personalized items (go to learningexpress.com to find a store in your area).

And let’s face it, when it comes to dinner, most kids don’t hanker for chateaubriand or pan-seared salmon. Because of this, many venues offer the children a special menu of kid-friendly foods such as mac and cheese, chicken fingers, or hot dogs. Ask your caterer what they can do for your younger set.

Battling Boredom: You may call it the cocktail hour, but to your pint-sized gang, it’s just a lot of waiting around until the real fun starts. Keep the little people entertained by providing a goody bag filled with little treasures like create-a-scene sticker books, coloring books, small puzzles such as tangrams, or small toys like matchbox cars or tiny animal figures. Again, think of toys that will quietly spur imagination with minimal mess (colored pencils instead of smeary markers). Good sources for these types of treasures are any local dollar store, a “teacher store,” or online at orientaltrading.com. Another great source for unique coloring books, puzzles, and games is mindware.com.