Bridal Shower Planning
The Bridal Shower Best Friend Blues
There’s something bittersweet about bridal showers. Relationships between mother and daughters, sisters, and friends are about to change. While you’re happy for the bride-to-be, there might also be a nagging worry about how your future relationship with the bride is going to change. Will she have time for you anymore? Is she moving away with her new husband? As the best friend planning the wedding shower, you may have mixed emotions about the upcoming wedding. On the one hand, you want her to be happy, but on the other hand, you wish things didn’t have to change.
As you try to come up with bridal shower ideas, allow a piece of your emotions to show through. You’re going to have a chance to give a speech on the day of the wedding, but consider saying something from the heart at the actual bridal shower. Wedding showers are usually smaller, more intimate gatherings where people give the bride-to-be a combination of practical and prank gifts. It’s a chance to share some laughs, play some games, and enjoy a little downtime before the frenzy of the wedding day. If you’re a little nervous about making a speech in front of everyone, use this time to have a quiet conversation with the bride-to-be before the bridal shower. It’s the perfect time to reconnect and re-establish your friendship.
Hosting a Couples Bridal Shower
Many brides have a wedding bridal shower before the wedding and a big reception after the wedding. However, for couples planning a small wedding or who plan to get married in an exotic location, hosting a couples bridal shower is a great way to get everyone together, especially the friends and family who aren`t able to travel to your wedding location.
Make sure to send out the bridal shower invitations well in advance, clearly indicating that this is a couples bridal shower. Keep the bridal shower invitations neutral but inviting. If the guys catch a glimpse of pink-and-frilly shower invitations, they’re likely to assume the party is an all-female event and may not show up. Make sure to put both names on the bridal shower invitations. Mention beer to the boys and you just might have them hooked!
Of course, it shouldn’t take too much begging to host a successful couples bridal shower. These are your friends and family! You’re getting married, not turning into a completely different person. Be yourself and let your friends know how important it is for them to be at the bridal shower. That’s really all you have to do.
How to Plan a Bridal Shower
If you’re looking for information on how to plan a bridal shower you can buy any number of books on the market designed to learn lots of tips and tricks. Save your money! Instead of spending $20 or $30 on a book, use that money to buy everything you need for the bridal shower at Bachelorettesuperstore.com. Once you visit the website, you’ll realize that you don’t need a book to tell you how to plan a bridal shower, all you need are a few creative sparks to get you going. What could be more creative than sparkly lip tattoos or witty shower invitations?
One important thing to remember is the difference between bridal shower ideas and bachelorette party ideas. The bachelorette party is typically a girl’s night out; a chance to let loose and release tension. It’s a chance for the bride-to-be to have one last hoorah before the big day. Bridal shower ideas should focus more on the wedding and the needs of the bride and groom. Whether it’s a couples bridal shower or a women-only event, the bridal shower is generally a whole lot tamer than the bachelorette party.
When planning a bridal shower, remember that it’s the invitations (the first thing people see) that help set the tone. Whether you use printable bridal shower invitations or custom made ones, make sure that they’re appropriate for the type of bridal shower you’re planning.
A Bridal Shower Guide to Planning for the Unexpected
It’s important to be flexible when planning bridal shower ideas. Be prepared for unexpected guests by making sure there’s enough food for everyone, enough seating, a place for people to hang their coats and jackets, and an inviting bridal shower atmosphere. Before sending out the shower invitations, take a look at your party space. How many people can you reasonably accommodate? If the number of guests is more than you can manage, it might be a good idea to consider renting a hall, booking a room at a restaurant or renting room at a community center or gymnasium.
You can be as specific as possible on those shower invitations, but someone either won’t read it carefully or won’t think it applies to them. Bridal showers should be as stress-free as possible, and the best way to do that is to ride the waves of uncertainty. Fuming anger will only add more tension to an already hectic party, so try to offset some of that stress by being prepared for anything. Set up a small table in the corner with crayons and crafts for unexpected kids. Keep the guests busy and entertained with bridal shower supplies like music and games. And most importantly…be a gracious host. At the end of the day, the bridal shower should be all about the bride.
Bridal Shower Planning Personality Types
How you plan your wedding shower depends a lot on your personality. Do any of these personalities sound like you?
1. HIGH-MAINTENANCE PARTY PLANNER: Not only do you have to be in charge of the bridal shower supplies, you insist on having the best wedding shower ever by hand-crafting the bridal shower supplies yourself. You might even repaint the inside of your house for the big event. There’ll be music (live of course…maybe a professional harpist), gourmet finger foods (made by you), and personalized hand-crafted shower invitations.
1. LOW-MAINTENANCE PARTY PLANNER: What’s the big deal? No need to pre-plan any bridal shower ideas. You’ll just order a few bridal shower supplies a week before the event, invite a few friends by phone, and voila! Instant party. Checklist-Schmecklist! Why go to any trouble for the wedding shower when all you need are a few guests and a place to seat them? They can eat when they get back home, so why even bother making snacks?
1. THE CRAZED LUNATIC: OMG the wedding shower is only six months away and you’ve got nothing done yet! You’ve ordered, sent back, reordered, and sent back again all of the bridal shower supplies because you just can’t settle on whether you want white and pink balloons, or all white balloons. Ohhh…the stress is too much! You had a bridal shower checklist but it accidentally got shredded with your credit card statement. Now what are you going to do? The pressure’s too much. You may have to hand over the bridal shower responsibility to someone else.
1. CALM, COOL, AND COLLECTED: Wedding shower? Not a problem. You went directly to Bachelorettesuperstore.com and ordered very tasteful bridal shower invitations, some party supplies, party wear, favors, and even a gift for the bride. Nothing more to do now but sit back, sip some champagne, and wait for the festivities.
Whatever your party planning personality, you can rely on reputable shops like Bachelorettesuperstore.com to get you through.
Pulling Off a Wedding Shower
There’s something about an impending wedding that can blow common sense out the window. When coming up with bridal shower ideas, make sure they’re in line with what you can reasonably afford and logistically pull off. Sometimes fantasy and reality become blurred under the promise of a romantic wedding event. Whether you’re the bride planning your own wedding shower or the maid of honor tasked with the party planning, keep the bridal shower ideas in line with the actual wedding.
For example, if the wedding is going to be a small intimate gathering at the local Justice office, it wouldn’t make sense to plan a huge wedding shower at the church community center. If you live in a notoriously wet or cold climate, that white tent wedding shower you’ve fantasized about may not be a great idea either. It’s tempting to go over-the-top with your bridal shower ideas, but the best bridal shower planning guide will suggest stepping back and assessing your overall plan. Before you do anything, sit down with pen and paper, and create your own bridal shower checklist. Set a reasonable budget and go from there. Be mindful of the guests, how far way they might have to travel, and how many guests you plan on inviting. Remember, every guest will need food, beverages, a comfortable place to sit, a place to park, shower favors, etc.
It’s okay to go nuts with bridal shower supplies. You should have as much fun as possible when planning bridal shower ideas. Just make sure that your ideas jive with what you can reasonably pull off.
Hosting an Eco Friendly Bridal Shower
Of all the bridal shower ideas, an eco-friendly bridal shower might just be the most appreciated. Some people tend to shy away from this kind of theme out of fear that if they don’t do it perfectly, they may as well not do it at all. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every little bit helps the planet, and you should be praised for trying to make a difference! Start with the bridal shower invitations and make an eco-friendly statement by asking your guests not to wrap any gifts with non-recyclable wrapping paper. Instead, they might want to use towels, scarves, or plain brown compostable paper that they can decorate themselves. You can still order paper plates when ordering the bridal shower supplies, just make sure they go into the recyclables at the end of the evening and not the garbage can.
Another easy way to make friends with Mother Earth is to ask the guests to car pool or take public transit to get to the wedding shower. You’ll free up parking space and reduce the carbon footprint in one step.
There are a lot of bridal shower ideas floating around, but focusing on an eco-friendly one (while still having lots of fun) is a great idea.
