Here are some classic Bridal shower night advice and ideas to help your party succeed.
With more than enough to occupy the bride’s mind, she’ll be relying on her friends to sort out the specifics relating to the Bridal shower.
The bridal shower is traditionally organized by the brides maid Most of the bridal showers tend to be a surprise Bridal shower. You will rely on the groom to keep an eye on the bride and ensure she is at the venue There is no such a thing as the definitive guide on how to carry a Bridal shower weekend off with perfection, but there are a few rules of thumb that will stop you from making a white elephant out of the whole thing.
The main areas to tick off are: Who? Where? What, When, how of the Bridal shower? How to get there? And what to do? Everything else is just window dressing.
- Who?
Assuming that the bride is in the know and has selected her sub-committee of Bridal shower organizers, and that this power lobby includes you and a maximum of 2 other people, the chances are that she has given you a list of names that include the following brands of Bridal shower guests: –
The Definite
This is the hard-core soul who the bride wants there no matter what the circumstances. You will probably be on this list and will not have to persuade the others to attend. But you will have to take heed of any dates they will not be available.
The Possible
This will include people who she hasn’t seen for a little while and isn’t sure of how likely they are to come, what with commitments, children and the like. The list will also include the “generally unreliable”, i.e. those who the bride regards as ‘characters’ but who you may view as “pains;”
Have-To’s :This includes the prospective in-laws’ relevant members being invited to proceedings, usually with the bride’s secret hope that they can’t actually come so that she can totally enjoy herself without being on her best behavior but will still look a great daughter-in-law for having offered in the first place!
This also sometimes includes oddballs and space cadets who are long-time friends of someone on the ‘definite’ list, and thereby have to be invited.
Definitely Not’s. Occasionally, the bride in question may have a couple of names who would one day have made the ‘Have To’s’ list, but now, for reasons of violence, betrayal or suspected wrong-doing, are as welcome as gonorrhea. The determined but diplomatic bride will probably suggest picking a date or venue that this person will not be able to make, thereby again making it seem to the aforementioned undesirable that they had been invited to the Bridal shower in fact they were never on the agenda. Be careful with this one though, it can backfire. You may earn your spurs from negotiating this part alone!
- Where?
The bride will doubtless have penciled down a shortlist of possible locations, though she probably won’t care as long as it meets all her requirements. This is where your real work begins, for the venue has to be somewhere that will be easy enough for everyone to get to without it being somewhere they’ve all been plenty of times before; somewhere that is an exciting prospect, but not so far that the travel costs put people off; somewhere that is original and memorable .A budget return fare by rocket to a health spa/pole dancing class on the moon might not be ideal. Destination bridal showers have become very popular. So If you are planning for an out of town weekend,. Last minute ‘anywhere will do’ jobs might be okay for the guys, but we want what’s best, don’t we! At this point, whilst deciding on where you want to base the fun and frolics, you will also need to know what approximate budget everyone is looking towards. It is no use going off and doing loads of research on a crammed itinerary in if the cost per person doubles that of what most guests can afford. As the coordinator, you have to disprove the famous adage and keep all of the people happy absolutely all of the time.
- When?
The days of Bridal shower and stag festivities overlapping with the wedding ceremony are thankfully long gone. Nobody would be silly enough to risk a major hangover on the biggest of days, the modern alternative being to honour the Bridal shower’s rite of passage a good few weeks before the wedding. You will need to have two or three alternative dates though before you start making calls and sending emails, particularly if the bride has given you a long list of ‘must haves’. If there is even a chance of an alternative weekend being considered, get the bride to give you one just in case.
- How To Get There?
This will be closely linked with your decision on where to go and depends on factors like transport, where the guests themselves live, what time each person can get to the hotel on the Friday, what time they each need to get back on the Sunday, etc.
- What To Do?
A massive part of the success of your weekend will be not so much where you are as what you do. Commonly, the bride will suggest one or two things that she’s heard about or had recommended, but apart from that the itinerary will be in your hands. Naturally, you want a good standard of accommodation and a sit-down Meal while you’re there, but you might be asked to sort out anything from a day’s Pampering to some adrenaline activities too. As with the choice of dates, try to dissuade the bride from being too specific, just in case her original preference hits an availability snag!
Try to imagine what cocktail of events will most suit and please the spread of guests likely to attend – would everyone really go for Quad Biking over a visit to a health spa? – And also consider that you need to hit the middle ground between not having enough to do and having too regimented a line-up. Easy? Yeah, right. The weekend can always have a theme too, should the lady of the hour so desire.
