My daughter is getting married in May. She and her fiancé have been together for nine years and have owned their own home for quite some time. Consequently they are footing much of the bill themselves, with donations from family for specific items. They decided that apart from the bridal party, it is to be a child-free wedding and made that clear, very politely on the invitation. Quite a few of their friends with children had previously indicated that they rather liked child-free invites as it gave them a rare opportunity to let their hair down. Today my husband (who is my daughter's stepfather) received a text from his daughter saying 'What? No X and Y being invited to the wedding??' My husband doesn't see anything wrong with not inviting small children to weddings and is trying to remain out of the argument, but I can see this blowing up into a family row and as always I will be caught in the crossfire. My children are not particularly close to their step-siblings and only see them very occasionally. However they do tend to have very differing views on things and the referendum last year was an example of this. I really don't want ill feeling on what should be a happy occasion and possible repercussions down the years ahead. I could do with a few tips on how best to handle this without making the situation worse.
Another stabbing in Sydney today.