Getting my 2 1/2 year old to sit through a wedding

Shea24

My daughter is the flower girl at my cousins wedding and we did the rehearsal last night and she want to run around she cried the whole time and it was just a disaster! I try to take her to church with the essentials like toys markers and other stuff but she just doesn't want to sit through it she knows about the nursery there at the church and just wants to go play with the toys!  

LSU628

Will she sit still if she has snacks? Or can you take her to the back of the church where she can stand and move around?

JENandJEH

I think it's a lot for a 2.5 year old to sit through a wedding.  Church is a different story to me (a little noise in church, no big deal and you can walk them out to calm down) but I wouldn't want her to interrupt or possibly cause a scene during someone's wedding even if she's the flower girl.  Is there someone (your mom, MIL, aunt, BFF) that could be waiting for her at the front so after she comes down the aisle, they could take her to play in the nursery during the ceremony?  She'd still be around for pictures and to walk down the aisle but you wouldn't have to worry about keeping her quiet during the actual ceremony.  

TiffanyBerry

Oh, have something else for her to do - hire a sitter to come and watch her at the wedding if no one else can.  But expecting a very active 2.5yr old to sit through a wedding is a virtual recipe for disaster.

yeah.

Have her walk down the aisle and then put her in the nursery. Most 2.5 year olds wouldn't sit through a wedding.

sunnyday016

yeah. said:

Have her walk down the aisle and then put her in the nursery. Most 2.5 year olds wouldn't sit through a wedding.

This. It's just not going to happen. Let her walk down the aisle and then go play.

jllmb79

My sister got married last summer DD#1 was just over 2. She sat through the whole ceremony eating her first lollipop. 

laurakaz13

How about an iPad with her favorite show and headphones?  We travel on planes all the time with DD and this works like a charm.  She doesn't get tons of TV, so when she does she is mesmerized. 

But agree with the others, otherwise have a sitter come watch her during the ceremony.  Expecting a 2.5 yr old to behave through a wedding is unrealistic and not fair to the bride and groom at all. 

zeptattoo

DS was 2 when he was a ring-bearer for my BIL's wedding.  I was at the ready to escort him out once he got antsy, which he did after everyone got quiet for the ceremony.  Since it was DH's family, the agreement was that I would take him out- which I did and we played in the yard outside.  The nursery area was not available to us.

Have you asked the bride and groom what they would like or what their officiant suggests? 

studyinpink

We just went through this. Myself and DH were in the wedding so it was stressful.

We basically got her favorite treats and she ate them during the ceremony. Fruit snacks, lollipop, whatever worked for that 30 min timeframe.

LauraChicago

DD was a flower girl last year at 2 1/2. I sat towards the front and as soon as she was done walking down the aisle I ushered her to the back of the church where family saved us a few seats. I started with stickers then quickly moved to goldfish followed by the Hail Mary sucker. We left once for her to use the bathroom so that killed a few minutes but she miraculously made it through the rest ok. If she started making noise my plan was to just take her outside for the rest of the ceremony.

Good luck! It's stressful!