Making bridal showers exciting

Wedding Diary Ann Ruthenburg
Hello there, everyone, hope you have had a great week.
This week I am answering several people who have written to me asking for ideas on what to do to make Bridal showers exciting. Here are some of my thoughts…..Yes, planning a bridal shower is a labour of love – but remember your guest of honour will cherish this rare opportunity to bond with her “inner circle.”

The wedding shower has gotten a bad rap in recent years, with many young women thinking of it as an outdated obligation instead of the fun pre-wedding party it is. Many brides are opting out of the tradition altogether, but we think it just needs to be re-imagined! Some of the showers I have attended over the years are just not okay. I have seen the extreme of either it turns out to be a church service with women taking the opportunity to preach their long-awaited messages, or the other end of the spectrum where women are left drunk, half dressed, smeared in mud, flour, paint and alcohol.

Usually I’m the first guest to leave when things go either way. This is supposed to be a day where the girl has fun with her friends for the last time as a single lady. Unless she is known as a person who sleeps in alcohol, and has loose morals, why would her friends treat her that way at her shower? And unless she is a girl who is super spiritual and lives for church, why would one turn her party into a church service? Nothing wrong with giving godly advice and worldly wisdom, that’s where she should get it, but let’s have limits, people.

Themes are a good start.
A great theme can take an average party to the next level, and incorporating a fun, modern theme is the easiest way to make a wedding shower more fun. One theme we love for summer: a patio party! Think: a backyard bash complete with lawn games and BBQ; guests are encouraged to bring patio-related gifts for the couple. Guys have been doing these for years – braais at someone’s backyard or somewhere. It’s cost effective and non-laborious.

Clothing dress codes always go down well with today’s lady. The little black dress as a theme works wonders. All the guests are asked to dress up in a colour theme of black, and it has to be a little black dress. See all the ladies walking in showing off their attractive selves is an awesome sight and one not to be forgotten.

Another theme can be “Eat, Pink and Be Married” theme. The idea here is that guests come wearing pink of any shade. They also bring food that is pink such as pink cakes, and pink cup cakes. All the décor is in pink, napkins are pink, drinks are pink and so forth. It’s a great theme for a girlie girl.

Another great theme for people is a “Queens Tea Party”. Everyone comes dressed like the royal party, with hats and gloves, etc. The food comes in the form of high tea eats (that’s finger eats), served with tea and coffee. Iced tea and Cocktails will go down well here.

Invitations are a good way of ensuring you capture everyone’s attention. If the bridal party is around Easter, it would be interesting to send your invites in Easter eggs. If the bridal party are social drinkers, sending invites in empty wine bottles is classy. If the person being celebrated is romantic, then send the invites with a rose or two, or a chocolate attached to each invite.

Even the design of the cards can be classy, don’t just send any card, be creative.
Your décor is another way of making the event stand out. I did a bridal shower the other day where the bridal loved the Cinderella story. So I made the centre arrangements in glass plastic slippers. I tell you, people, it was stunning. I did a shower last week that had centre pieces with lemons.

The smell of lemons permeating from the tables was amazing. The theme was lemon, so the cakes were lemon, the drink was lemonade, the colour of the décor was lemon and light yellow and so forth. It was awesome, people. And what’s nice is we did not even mind the fact that the guests walked away with the centre pieces after the event. And what was best was that the décor cost very very little, because people donated the lemons from their gardens. Sometimes the best décor costs very little, because we use what’s around us.

That’s it from me this week.

Anastasia can be messaged on 0772 933 845.