The

Bridal Showers

Your Wedding Shower

The bridal shower is a traditional celebration that allows friends and family to show their affection and “shower” the bride with gifts. The show occurs from two months to two weeks before the wedding, and it can be anything from an informal luncheon at the office to a dinner in an elegant restaurant.

Anyone who wants to do “something” for the bride may give her a shower, even a group of two or three friends can act as co-hostesses. One rule is that immediate family members (mothers, sisters, mothers-in-law) should not give showers because it appears that the family is soliciting gifts.

The hostess can set the limit on the number of guests since she will be paying the bill. No one should be invited to the shower who has not been invited to the wedding, or who does not know the couple. One of the bride’s responsibilities, as far as her shower goes, is to provide the hostess with a guest list and make sure she has not placed a financial burden on someone by inviting them to one ore two showers. She should also send a written note of thanks to her guests for any presents received, as well as the hostess (es) for their hospitality.

Shower themes can be fun and useful. Unique shower ideas are a “round the clock” shower where guests are assigned an hour of the day on their invitations and bring the appropriate gifts (for example, at 7 a.m. a guest might bring a toaster); a home repair shower for a bride and groom; a lingerie shower; a recipe shower, where each guest receives a recipe card and fills out a favorite disk; a “wishing well” shower, where in addition to a gift, the guest brings a tiny present (a wooden spoon, a kitchen sponge, etc.). For a wishing well shower, the hostess makes a cardboard replica of a well and gifts, wrapped and tied in ribbons, are tossed in. There are no cards attached, though sometimes the guest write a poem and attach it to their gifts. The bride pulls out the gifts with the ribbons and the poems are read aloud.