The gorgeous little flower girl in my last post got me thinking about kids and weddings.

They say never work with children or animals, but on a wedding day, you might not have a choice!

In my time as a wedding make up artist, I've seen brides having to breastfeed before putting their dress on (and you thought your wedding morning was stressful!).

I have also had the job of distracting babies while Mum gets ready. It's all in a day's work.

Flower girls and page boys can look angelic, but sometimes their behaviour is anything but.

A heady mix of boredom, tiredness and a short attention span can lead to inevitable crying and tantrums; usually at the crucial moments, like during the ceremony or speeches.

Weddings are emotional and exciting for us, but they can be boring for kids; (Fathers of the bride might want to reconsider the 45 minute speech!)

Kids will be kids and it's hard to keep them amused, but it's not impossible.

A good plan to reduce kiddy-related stress is to keep them occupied with little games or activities, which don't need to be expensive.

If the kids belong to the bride, it helps to have a child-minding rota in place on the day,where someone takes the kids out for an hour or two; a bride needs to relax!

As far as getting the little angels ready goes, my advice is to leave their hair and outfit until the last possible minute unless they want to be ready as soon as they open their eyes. A kid's ability to dirty an outfit or actually resist putting it on completely never fails to amaze!

Of course, having kids at your wedding has it's positives.

They can look so cute on photos (if they stay still long enough) and they can bring their little personalities to the day, which can make for some lovely moments.

But look on the bright side, if they are running around at the evening do, full of E numbers from the sweetie cart, they will probably collapse in a heap by 9pm-or is that just the parents?

And did you know ? There are wedding nannies available to entertain your kids for a few hours - cleaner than a face painter I guess.

Special thanks to Michelle Robinson for this post.