Tips for taking just-turned-3 yr old to a wedding

[MeadowHay]

Anyone got any tips that will help the day run as smoothly as possible? I think I'm most concerned about meals, because it looks like the wedding breakfast will be mid-PM which is the time when she often has a nap, so may be very grumpy right around then. We usually eat lunch much earlier so I am going to have to ensure she eats something before the ceremony, but then she might not be hungry for the meal, and then depending on how tired she is/how late evening buffet is, she might miss that as we may have to take her back for bed (we are staying in a self-catering cottage nearby). There will be one other child who is 2.5 and we will be staying with that family for a few days prior so hopefully they will get on but no guarantees there.

What did you do to make life easier when attending a wedding with a toddler?

My son is that age and he still has a nap. Firstly make sure she has her lunch at normal time (or fractionally early if you have to) so it isn't late.

I wouldn't worry if that meant she missed the meal. Could she nap in her pram? I'd be aiming to do that. Early lunch. Service. Nap in pram (bonus if we didn't have to entertain child during meal). Find a corner/place to give her dinner at her normal time and then off to bed at normal time, unless you could get her in PJs there and again, sleep in pram until you want to leave.

As long as DC could run around, I couldn't be taking much beyond a few toys to entertain mine because he'd just be fascinated by all of the people.

Thanks, we will deffo take the pram with us in case of naps, although it looks to be rainy so that won't be very pleasant if we have to walk around in the rain with her in her our wedding clothes to get her to sleep . We will also have the car so DH could take her for a drive for a nap but can't really do that when we are meant to be eating.

The ceremony is literally right on our usual lunch time and obviously we will have to get there earlier too. It will be a shame if she misses the meal entirely though as the host has a proper 3 course kids' meal ordered for her and I'd feel terrible if the entire thing went to waste. I wonder if I could ask staff to keep it back for her for later if she was asleep, or would that be totally unreasonable? It's nothing super faffy - soup, then sausages chips and peas, and ice cream - so would just need slightly reheating or keeping warm.