What Is a Bridal Shower?

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What is a bridal shower? What happens in it? Who hosts the shower and who are invited it? Are there any needs for dressing up? How should I go about it if I have been given the job of hosting the shower? What should be the main event for the bridal shower? How is a bridal shower different from a bachelorette party? This article explores what is a bridal shower and all of these questions in great detail so read on!

Everything You Want to Know About Bridal Shower

What Is a Bridal Shower?

Bridal shower is an advance celebration of the bride’s wedding where the bride gets to spend some quality time with her friends and family before her big wedding day. The name "bridal shower" has a practical meaning as the guests usually "shower" gifts upon the bride to help her start her new life with her spouse.

There is no specific time for organizing the shower and it can be organized a week to six months before the wedding itself. If the guests would have to travel from different parts of the country, keeping it close to the wedding date would be best so that those guests can attend the shower too. Otherwise, it’s best to choose a date three to eight weeks before the wedding date.

You can hold the bridal shower at any place. It’s a known tradition that the shower is held at the house of the host, but any place would do. From the bride’s favorite park to a banquet hall, the shower can be held anywhere. You can even organize it in a salon or gallery if the guest list isn’t too big.

Who Is the Host for the Bridal Shower?

Apart from questions like "what is a bridal shower", this question is frequently asked. It is traditionally organized by the maid of honor though family members can host it as well. However, family members are not usually seen as a popular choice as it seems offensive or greedy for the bride’s family members to ask for gifts from their own family. But this trend has become more acceptable in recent years.

The host normally foots the bill of the shower though if it’s a grand affair, the host can easily talk to other bridesmaids or friends to chip in when the planning is started. It’s not just about sharing the bill; the host is best advised to actually involve other bridesmaids in planning and setting up the bridal shower.

If the shower is not planned as a surprise, it’s a good idea to get the bride involved in the planning too. You can ask her if she has a registry yet and if she has any particular theme in mind like a kitchen shower or a lingerie shower or anything she prefers to.

Who Should Be Invited?

One of the golden rules of bridal shower invitations is to only invite people who are already invited to the wedding list. It’s best to actually get the list vetted by the bride at first. In case you want to keep the shower a total surprise, you can ask the bride's mother or fiance to look through the list.

You should invite the closest family relatives of the bride and the groom. The bride's close friends would obviously make the list and it would be best to invite all other women who are a part of the wedding party. If you plan on organizing a co-ed event, also called "Jack and Jill" shower, you should also invite the men from both sides.

What Do People Do During a Shower?

It’s easy to understand "what is a bridal shower", but is giving the gifts the only thing about it? Definitely no. The event is normally sharing stories about the bride and her fiance with delicious food, drinks and some laughs.

When the bride opens the presents, arranging her favorite music to be played in the background during this moment is a great idea.

Setting up games in the bridal shower is also a good idea to keep the guests engaged. Here are three awesome shower games which are appropriate and are extremely fun.

  • How do you know about each other? It’s a simple game where you ask the bride and groom to be questions regarding each other and see how much they know each other.

  • How did you fall in love? The guests get the chance to make up their own versions of how the couple fell madly in love with each other. This will be really fun! Try it.

  • Roast the couple. The couple is put on the hot seat as judges with the guests getting situations where they have to act out as the bride and groom.

How Is It Different with a Bachelorette Party?

When people get to know about "what is a bridal shower", they usually mistaken it as something similar to a bachelorette party. However, both are extremely different. Bachelorette parties are usually very crazy with mutual friends of the bride and groom normally hosting it. It’s normally celebrated as the bride’s last freedom night and is held at night clubs or restaurants. The gifts given to the couple are also not traditional and are normally sexy gifts that the bride and groom can use on their wedding night.

Don’t Forget Thank You Cards

Thank you cards for the bridal shower are important and you must make sure that you are done with sending them within fifteen days after the event. It’s not only considered polite, doing it early also would ensure that you can start preparing thank you cards for your wedding sooner.

Note: You should not combine the wedding and bridal shower thank you cards together. And you would be well-advised to actually accompany your bridal shower card with a gift if the receiver hosted the party or planned and paid for it.