What’s the best option? Two bloggers recently argued about whether children should be invited to weddings, and now Today hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb shared their thoughts about the polarizing question.
Gifford cited a Salon article published this past Saturday, June 25, which assures future brides and grooms that even if their kids have meltdowns, it won’t bother any of the guests. “They will not be annoyed, horrified, or shocked,” Stoler wrote, “The wedding will not be ruined.”
The piece, titled “Invite My Kid to Your Wedding: Trust Me – You’ll Regret It If You Don’t,” also presents multiple reasons in the affirmative, including benefits of having children at weddings like “an immediately packed dance floor” and “the best photos in your wedding album.”
“I think your wedding should be your wedding,” Gifford noted on Thursday, June 30. “If you don’t want them there, that’s your prerogative.”
Gifford, 62, looked back at her own wedding — in October 1986 — with her late husband, Frank Gifford, and noted how they gave only their immediate family the privilege of bringing their little ones.
“You have the kids that you want there,” Kotb replied, to which Gifford agreed.
“My husband’s daughter’s son did almost ruin it,” Gifford said. “I’ve told him that many, many times. He was three,” she said, and making a buzzing sound like a bee she shared that the toddler was causing a ruckus by running everywhere throughout their wedding.
Like her co-host, Kotb also seemed in favor of an adults-only wedding. “Plus not to mention you have to get extra seats for people, and meals,” Kotb said. Gifford chimed in with a rebuttal, “But there’s nothing cuter than when they come down with the flowers and the little ring. And then they’re on the dance floor, dancing with the old people. It’s fun.”
The talk show personalities then discussed Sabrina Rojas Weiss’s response to Stoler’s call for kids, and her take on why children should not be invited to weddings. In Weiss’s Yahoo Style article titled “Please Don’t Bring Your Kids to My Wedding” published on Tuesday, June 28, she condenses Stoler’s list and with the help of etiquette expert Elaine Swann reiterates each reason offering evidence on the contrary.
“Sometimes it’s the parents in attendance who would like to be partying with such abandon, and they can’t because their child is throwing a tantrum at the table,” she said in response to Stoler’s comment about dancing kids.
She added that overall the wedding should be about the couple getting married, and anything that takes them out of the moment that can be prevented should be – including their wedding guests’ children – if that is their wish.
With one final thought on the subject Gifford added, “How about we raise our children to behave at things? There’s an idea.”
Watch the video above.
