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Have you ever wondered why we save the top layer of wedding cakes, only to freeze it and consume it an entire year later when chances are it won't be quite as delicious?

Here's a hint:

First comes love,
Then comes marriage,
Then comes a baby in a baby carriage.

It used to be a very common occurrence that by the time the one-year anniversary rolled around a couple would be busy planning a christening. So instead of baking another cake for the occasion, people just baked a huge cake for the wedding and saved part of it to be served at the christening.

How very practical yet sad for the little one, don't you think?

Of course, nowadays there is no such expectation, but the tradition of saving a piece of cake lives on. And now you know why.

While many of us grew up loving the American Girl dolls and stories, we probably wouldn't normally look to that series for modern fashion advice. However, Abigail Breslin, who plays Kit in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, has been hitting the red carpet for the film's premieres with style.

In New York, Abigail wore a fun but formal silver ensemble that we think would be a great look for a junior bridesmaid or an older flower girl. Find out how to snag the style for your wedding in the gallery!

If you're going to have children in attendance at your wedding, you'll want to plan something special for them at your reception. Weddings can be boring for children, and bored children are disruptive children, and parents with disruptive children bail out early. We advise setting up an activity table for the kids at your wedding to keep them entertained and happy.

But there is a right way and a wrong way to set up such a table.

Remember that kids are, for the most part, easy to please. You won't need a million different activities for them -- just one or two things that all the little ones can enjoy, and you'll want to keep these things appropriate for the wedding.

Country singer Sara Evans married former University of Alabama quarterback Jay Barker last Saturday in an intimate ceremony on a farm near her family's home in Tennessee. She told People magazine, "It was a fairy-tale wedding."

Sara wore an ivory Vera Wang gown and was walked down the aisle by her three children: son Avery, eight years old, and her daughters Olivia, who is five, and Audrey, who is three. Jay was also by his children: nine-year-old Andrew, eight-year-old Braxton, and his six-year-old twins, Sarah Ashlee and Harrison.

Your first response to reading that headline might be, "Well, yeah." Hugh Hefner isn't exactly a role model for monogamy. He currently has three live-in girlfriends -- Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt, and Kendra Wilkinson -- but Holly is his main squeeze, and she's made no secret whatsoever about her desire to marry him and have his baby.

However, much to Holly's dismay, Hef recently gave an interview to Fox News saying, "I love Holly very much and I think we're going to be together the rest of my life. But marriage isn't part of my puzzle. It's not a personal thing; I just haven't had much luck with marriages."

Some folks think Holly's just in it for the money, while others think she's truly in love with Hef. The other girls have made mention of moving on someday, getting married, and having children, but Holly is staying put. We're curious to know what you think about the situation -- what do you think she should (or will) do?

It can be difficult to find ways to include all the people you hold near and dear in your wedding, especially when those people are children. Whereas adult attendants get antsy about how they look in the dress you picked out as they stand in front of all your friends and family, kids are totally psyched to have all eyes on them. But what will they be doing?

The common solution is to include the wee ones in your life as flower girls and ring bearers, but what is the appropriate age for these designations? Is a three-year-old mature enough to understand the job and cooperate? Would a ten-year-old be offended that you'd even ask her to play such a kiddie role? At what age should a girl be promoted from flower girl to junior bridesmaid?

We suggest speaking to the parents first when you decide to include children in the wedding party. The parents can give you an idea of where the child will best fit in, and whether or not it's a good idea to ask. Maybe a two-year-old won't do the flower girl job exactly by the book, but who says she won't be an adorable part of your wedding? It all depends on what you want.

If you and your fiance have children, either your own or those from a previous marriage, you might be looking for ways to include them in your wedding ceremony in a way that expresses their important role in your family. Here, at weddingwire.com, are several thoughtful and creative ideas for doing just that. Going beyond the simple flower girl/ring bearer/reader role, many couples have younger children stand with them through the ceremony. For older children, consider having a family unity component in which the kids participate with you in lighting a unity candle or filling a sand vase. Other ideas include presenting them with a family medallion ring during the ring ceremony, or including them in your vows. It is a good idea to discuss wedding plans with children beforehand to avoid embarrassment or, if they are going to be your step-children, feeling that they are betraying their biological parent by participating in your ceremony. With a little thought and planning, your ceremony can help children feel like they, too, are entering into a new and loving family.

Get ready to hear this question A LOT. If it doesn't bother you now, it probably will after you've heard it from every friend and relative every time you get together. We're not sure why people throw politeness out the window, but hopefully you know that it is NOT OK to ask this question, especially not out of the blue. It's presumptive and rude, and puts the person being asked in an awkward position.

It's one thing to ask "Do you want kids one day?" which is a fine question but one that should only be asked once, and is not to be followed with more personal inquiries. Family planning can be a touchy subject, because even if your intentions are innocent, the question can come off as pressuring, or you may touch a nerve with someone privately dealing with devastating infertility.

If you are on the receiving end of questions about children, you should be assertive in your answers, gently or not-so-gently getting the point across that you find the question inappropriate. Read on for some good answers to these intrusive questions.

Over the weekend, the New York Times Style section included an interesting article on what has become the biggest wedding dilemma of all for some couples: the rules for including children. According to the Times, "Surprisingly, there is less professional guidance on the topic than a bride and bridegroom might hope for. Of the hundreds of wedding planning books on the Barnes & Noble Web site, there isn't one exclusively devoted to it.'

While we cannot imagine that one needs an entire BOOK on children at the wedding, we can see how the question of whether or not to include the wee ones could indeed be the most vexing decision a bride and groom might have to make. After all, no matter what you decide, you are guaranteed to anger someone.



With that in mind (you're welcome!), here are three hard-and-fast rules about kids at weddings:

Nothing against your sister's two-year-old, your young cousins, or any of the little ones in your life, but you've decided that you don't want kids at your wedding. Fair enough. But now you have two problems:

1. How do you word the invitations in a way that communicates this point without offending the parents?
2. How do you deal with people who will assume their kids are the exception?

Standard etiquette says that all you should have to do is leave the children's names off the invitations, but do people today really know or abide by standard etiquette? Too many people are going to assume you're inviting their whole family, and when someone shows up with an uninvited child, all the people who knew to leave their tots at home are likely to be offended.

The easiest and most tactful way to drive the no kids thing home is to write the invitation and RSVP card with the exact number of guests you are inviting per household. If you are inviting a couple with children, they should get the hint when their reply card says "2 seats have been reserved for you at the reception." To be sure people know it's not just their kids who aren't invited, you can print "Adult reception" or "Adults only" on the bottom of your invitation as well.

Apparently, it is tradition for children to marry once they reach puberty in the gypsy tradition, and this custom is generally tolerated in Romania. However, violence broke out between the families of a 12-year-old girl and her 14-year-old groom after he jilted her. Nobody was killed, but several were injured, one man was charged with attempted murder, and four others are still under investigation for alleged attempted murder.

Five years ago, a situation like this sparked national debate on whether forced child marriages should be allowed. The European Union criticized the practice, but now Romania has joined the EU, so we'll have to see what kind of renewed criticism the forced marriage of children draws this time.

Just take a moment and think back to yourself at 12 or 14 years old. I was still scared to hold a boy's hand (and yes, I was a late bloomer, thankyouverymuch), and I don't think most of my classmates were that much more on the ball when it came to relationships. I'm admittedly unfamiliar with the practices of gypsies in Romania, so I don't know why these practices continue, but I'm hopeful that this incident will get them to rethink their reasons for child marriages.

It's not easy being a flower girl or ring bearer: You have to dress up, you're nervous about that long walk down the aisle, there's so many pictures to pose for, and you have to wait FOREVER to get some cake!

Spoil your littlest attendants with these gorgeous cookies from CASUE - customized to match your bridal party colors - and make them the envy of the rest of the bridal party. The cookies almost too cute to eat, but I'm sure the children in your wedding party will manage anyhow!

New Year's Day proved to be an occasion for celebration for funny man Eddie Murphy -- he wed producer Tracey Edmonds on a private island off Bora Bora on January 1, 2008. Whether the marriage is actually valid is still under speculation.

Murphy has five children from his 12-year marriage to ex-wife Nicole Mitchell as well as a daughter with Spice Girl Melanie Brown. Edmonds has two kids with her ex-hubby, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, but no children were present at the ceremony, which was described as small and intimate, with just 25 close friends and family.

The issue of children has kept Murphy in the hot seat over the last year -- he initially denied that he was the father of Scary Spice's daughter. Murphy and Mel B. had been hot and heavy, even brushing off rumors of an engagement, until he gave interview while stumping for Dreamgirls, during which he denied paternity and said he and Brown were no longer dating, which was news to Brown.

Edmonds accompanied Murphy to the Dreamgirls premiere and said they'd been together for a little less than two months, meaning they hooked up just about the same time Brown's pregnancy became public. Say it with me, folks -- NICE. Let's hope Murphy and his new bride resolve to be kinder to the people in their lives this year.

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When I was a child, I always wanted a pair of fancy patent leather shoes, but my parents would never buy them for me because I "would just grow out of them in a few months." That was always the excuse -- and a perfectly valid one -- against buying nice things for me as a child.

If you are having a flower girl and ring bearer in your wedding, the cost of their wardrobe can seem a bit exorbitant. Whether you or the parents are footing the bill, it makes little sense for anyone to spend so much money on formalwear for tots that will soon be too small. That's why I think this site is such a great idea. Gaga's offers 3-week rentals of boys' tuxedos and suits and girls' formal dresses, perfect for weddings, and most rentals cost less than $20.

This could be a great way to save money on wedding fashion, and the 3-week rental period is the perfect amount of time for the children to wear the clothes, enjoy them, and then grow out of them.