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A bridal shower is meant to surround the bride with female family members and dear friends to celebrate her upcoming marriage. While traditional bridal showers were held to “shower” the bride-to-be with items for her trousseau, today’s bridal showers are the perfect opportunity to pamper the guest of honor and share in the excitement of the upcoming wedding.

Planning a Bridal Shower

The maid of honor usually plans the bridal shower as one of her duties. It’s also increasingly acceptable for a coworker to host a work bridal shower and for close friends of the couple to host a “couples” shower. While it’s generally considered not appropriate for the bride’s family members to host a shower, the attitudes on this are relaxing considerably, and it’s not unusual nowadays for sisters who are the bride’s maid of honor or aunts to get in on the planning. A wise maid of honor should delegate responsibility for different aspects of the party to other bridesmaids, and even the bride’s family can get involved.

Deciding on a theme for the perfect bridal shower will make the rest of the planning easier. Consulting with the bride on what she might enjoy is always a good idea. Many showers are centered on what the bride might need, such as a lingerie shower, a kitchen shower or a honeymoon shower. Or, just leave the gifts up to the guests and plan a fun theme, such as a Victorian tea party or a Hawaiian luau, which is perfect if the couple will be honeymooning in the tropics. Even a simple and classy color-coordinated theme works well when you pair romantic colors, such as pink and black, with fresh flowers.

Choose a location that can accommodate the number of guests and offers a relatively private atmosphere. Many people host bridal showers in their home or church’s community room. Others choose restaurants with private dining rooms, and even a garden party can work in nice weather. Be sure to include the time, location, theme and any information on the bridal shower registry on the invitations, and send them out at least three weeks before the bridal shower.