That so many AIBU are about no children at weddings?!

You refer to “major family events” - is your post restricted to children of the family such as niece/nephew of the bride and groom?

It was always okay to not invite kids to weddings.
Anyone allowed to throw a party for adults.
The problem is when some people can’t accept their children aren’t wanted somewhere and they lose their shit.

Children’s behaviour has got much worse in the last decade or so too. Looking around tow and the supermarket this week during school holidays I have seen many I would not like to have had trashing my wedding.

I think most of them are made up.

I have mixed feelings on it and can generally see both sides. I’d guess some reasons might include:
~ these days couples tend to pay for their wedding themselves , or at least a bigger proportion than in the past. Parents of the couple used to have more of a say on the guestlist so would include all the kids of extended relatives that maybe couple aren’t that fussed about

~ wedding costs have gone up, what might have cost the cover of a few sausage rolls at a village hall buffet to feed the child now expensive wedding venues are charging a lot per child

~ social media trends. What might have been more of a family party is now more stylised and glamourous. There was a MN thread about this the other day and some people strongly disagreed on that though

I have young kids so I’m now in the phase of my life where I can’t easily attend child free weddings (son has SEN, don’t feel I can leave him with an agency babysitter) , especially family weddings where my support network are also guests themselves. It’s a shame for me but if that’s what the bride and groom want then that’s fine, as long as they don’t get annoyed when I can’t stay for the evening do or whatever

Probably expense. Given everything in the wedding industry quadruples in cost as soon as the ‘w’ word is mentioned, not inviting children is one obvious way of trimming the bill.

It doesn’t trouble me in the slightest whether couples invite children or not, provided that they are not offended by my non-attendance if this causes inconvenience to me.

Too much expectation is attached to weddings all
round, IMO. Very often they cause far more angst than they are worth.

Just let the couple do what they want.

We had a very kid inclusive wedding. We didn't have our own kids at the time but obviously we had a fantastic time.

Recently been to a friend's wedding that was no children and me and my husband used it as an opportunity for some child free time and we had an absolute ball.

It's an invitation not a summons.

There are countless threads where people are upset about weddings.

Completely agree.

We specified that we especially welcomed children at our wedding, and had an entertainer for them.