so im getting married in may, and we have mailed the invitations off, we have started getting RSVP cards back. We addressed the envelopes to the people invited. now some of them are responding saying they will be bringing there children. However they are not invited, we didnt put that on the inviations adn now i guess we should have but we simply addressed the envelopes Mr and Mrs Smith, nothing about children. so whats the best way to tell them they cant bring there kids, i dont want to upset anyone but we cant afford to feed the 4 and 5 kids each person has. they are all of 2nd cousins and such that are bringing the kids.                 
                             
        
Re: dont want to be rude but...(NBR)
Sounds like Maid of Honor duty!! ;oP
Seriously, though, if it's family, I would just call and explain it's adults only
We put the kabosh on that from the start by having the reception card say "Adult only reception to follow at 6pm yaddayaddayadda..."
Not sure how to work that in hindsight gracefully, sorry.
you did it the right way - it's tacky to put it on the invites
I'd let people know by word of mouth - your mother for your side, your mil for his side or some one else close to you (like MOH), but who people will listen to
she's wrong - it's her job or another close family member's job
I don't really have any advice, but wanted to say that I'm amazed at how clueless people are when they receive wedding invitations. Family or not, had you of wanted their kids there, the invite would have been addressed as so. I've known that for as long as I've been invited to weddings.
My unwed sister, who just started dating a guy, received an invitation to my cousin's wedding, addressed ONLY to her which meant only SHE was invited. She got upset and called my Aunt wanting to know if she could still bring a guest. Totally tacky IMO.
Ugh. ?We had the same problem. ?Two of DH's cousins told us that they wouldn't be attending if their father was invited. ?DH is close to the cousins, so we didn't invite their dad.
Then, one of them RSVP'd that she and her husband were coming (she never told us she was planning to bring the kids; I don't know where she was expecting them to go!). ?The other one RSVP'd that she was bringing her kid. ? When we informed them we weren't able to accommodate children, they both said they wouldn't come to the wedding. ?(This is, of course, AFTER I sent in my head counts, and AFTER their father hadn't been invited, etc.) ?I was ready to tell them to go sit on a pin. ?
They decided to come after my husband told them how hurt he was. ?He explained again that space was an issue. ?I guess the point is, you can't control how people react. ?It was their faux pas to even assume their kids were invited. It's not like you can't call the bride and ask...