Dear Ask the Bridesmaid,
I am in charge of planning my best friend's bridal shower. I have done some research and looked online to see if I should plan some games, but I don't know if I should plan a lot or if I should plan just a few. I've never had to host a bridal shower before and I'm completely lost. Can you help me out?
Thanks,
Abby
Continue reading "#AsktheBridesmaid – How Many Games is Too Many?" »
Are you looking for a great idea for a bridal shower? Well, the first thing to do is consider the bride's personality. What is her style, what does she like to do and what are her hobbies? If she loves everything girl inspired and a bit of fashion as well with a hint of traditional, a chic and elegant bridal shower is just for her. Well, Wedding and Party Network has a few tips and ideas on hosting this gorgeous bridal shower.
So, how can you create a chic and elegant bridal shower? It's truly simple with a few details. It's definitely all about the decorations and how you present it for this bridal shower. Focus on mixing fabric, paper and fresh flowers.Use fabric within your tablescapes. Even mix and match patterns with a hint or burlap for table runners. Make sure everything is pretty subtle, you don't want a clash of patterns and colors. Picking the right fabric is definitely the base for creating a chic and elegant bridal shower.
Another must is featuring flowers as well. Your flowers can be made from paper even or a combination of fresh flowers, as well as paper ones that you created yourself in soft pastels. Create simple floral arrangements to display on each table to go with the chic and elegant theme. Also, for the paper flowers, you can make a floral chandelier or create a piece of art on the wall.
Talk with your florist about wanting to use fresh flowers and even mixing in a few paper flowers that have beautiful patterns to create a unique centerpiece. They'll love talking with you and coming up with unique ideas. Mix and match different colored vases, also use different sizes of vases and set out tea candles.
Also, don't forget to use cute sayings like, "A special gift for you, as you get ready to say I Do" or "Bride-to-be" for the gift table and as seating cards. This will just be added detail that will create a beautiful setting.Now that you have taken care of the decor that will create a beautiful setting, it's time to think about food and drinks. Rev up the menu with some cocktail shrimp, slow roasted tomatoes, herb tartlets, eclairs and even mini s'mores with pink marshmallows. Think elegant and sophisticated food, however, don't be intimidated because most of these appetizers are pretty simple to put together.
However, if you're having doubts, contact your local caterer and they will have a wide variety of options and wonderful ideas for this type of bridal shower. Don't forget to use gorgeous platters like mirrors to display your food and create various heights on the food table.
Whether you are hosting a bridal shower tea or a cocktail shower; this look works for both. The bride will absolutely love having a sophisticated bridal shower with the right decor and shower food. This will definitely be a preview of her wedding and get her totally ready to walk down the aisle.
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Are you a new mother-to-be or know someone who is pregnant? This is a truly joyous occasion that must be celebrated in a wonderful way. Of course, there's the baby shower with the million different shower themes that you can pick from that suits the mother and gender of the baby. However, have you thought about celebrating finding out the gender of the baby? It's a fun way to get everyone together and announce it especially since everyone anticipates this day so they can run out and start buying gender themed items. Wedding and Party Network has a great girls vs. boys gender reveal party that everyone will love.
For the party invitations, explain the details of the party and tell them to pick a boy or girl for their gender. You can even tell them to dress in the colors of what gender that think the baby is going to be.
It's all about the party decorations. Of course, the main colors should be pink and blue. Divide all your party decorations into half pink and half blue. This goes for absolutely everything. Table cloths, balloons, signs, pomanders over the food table, napkins, plates, utensils and streamers should all be pink and blue. Get creative with the signs. Let them say "Team Girl" or "Team Boy", "Girls Are Better" or "Boys Are Better" or something along those lines. You can even make t-shirts that represent what gender you are rooting for. Don't forget to put question marks everywhere.
Girl Or Boy?
Create pink and blue food for the party. Just like the party decorations, make sure your party food is all about the pink and blue. This party maybe on the week day so if it's later, think about just serving desserts. Have your bakery create a cake that is neutral on the outside, however, let them know beforehand and have them color the cake inside blue or pink for the big reveal. Also, serve up cake pops, cupcakes and cookies that are colored blue and pink on the outside, but have the gender color on the inside. They can be whatever flavor you like, however, champagne flavored maybe appropriate for some. Decorate everything with question marks and when everyone bites into their sweet treat they'll be pleasantly surprised to find out the gender. Serve up different colored drinks as well. Whatever the guests choose, they must stick to that color of food to let it be known what gender they think it will be.
For the big reveal, you can have everyone pick up a dessert, while you cut the cake and have everyone take a bite at the same time to find outside the gender. Everyone will love celebrating and finding out the gender together. You can share this joyous occasion with your close friends and family and celebrate together.
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Have you had close friends or family members recently become engaged over the summer? Is it time to start planning her bridal shower? Well, what type of bridal shower will you host? There are so many themes out there that you may not know where to begin. Well, Wedding and Party Network is here to bring you our 5 favorite bridal shower themes!
Spa Shower – Yes, wedding planning is a little stressful at times. If not a lot stressful at times. Therefore, taking time to relax is a must. So, why not host a spa bridal shower? It's the perfect stress reliever! Now, you can either go to a spa or bring the spa to you. Set up different stations if you're having it at home like, manicure, pedicure, facials & massages.
Guests can choose which one they would rather do. Create a soap bar that resembles a food table. You see soaps that come in various shapes, sizes & replicas and they're all so adorable. If you're hosting this shower at home, guests can bring presents. However, if it's at a spa, let everyone pitch in on a spa gift certificate, embroidered robe & slippers. This is truly a relaxing treat.
Vintage Bridal Shower – Throwing vintage into any party theme is a huge trend. However, it's perfect for a bridal shower. How do you incorporate this into a bridal shower? It's all how you decorate your bridal shower. This is the key to incorporating it into a bridal shower.
When decorating, choose vintage mason jars and glasses for centerpieces. Line them down the center of the table with a few flowers in each one. Use pastels, delicate flowers, chevron print, vintage suitcases, fun straws and texture.
Five Senses –This bridal shower is truly unique. When finding inspiration, consider the five senses. For sight think about how you can draw eyes to unique shower decor. Think of having art for centerpieces or unique floral arrangements to draw guest's attention. Have mellow music playing in the background for sound. Touch is represented by incorporating different textures. Of course, taste will represent through the menu. Lastly, smell is achieved by placing various candles and fragrances out. All of these elements combined will create an amazing setting for any bridal shower.
Breakfast At Tiffany's –This is ab absolute classic, which is exactly what you're going for with this bridal shower theme. Think Tiffany blue & white, diamonds, bows and black. Of course, having that little blue box that girls all over love is a must. Use them for centerpieces or for your party favors.
Create cupcakes with in the Tiffany blue with a ribbon on top. Also, for centerpieces, use white carnations, create flower balls with them and sprinkle some diamonds on each table. For event food, serve up breakfast! Fresh fruit, casseroles, breads & scones are all great items to serve for this shower. A shower theme that everyone will love!Sweet Love – It's all in the name with this bridal shower. Of course, your main focus is to serve sweet items. Think colorful when choosing your shower decorations and floral arrangements. Don't forget about the candy bar for this theme. Use various candies, like jelly beans, lollipops, taffy, chocolate and the bride's favorite candy for your candy bar. This is a fun bridal shower that is a must for a colorful bride!
So, when planning your next wedding shower, choose these fun themes to help make it a success. Showers are a great time for the bride to take a break from planning and to kick back with great friends and family.
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Shower centerpiece, cupcakes photo provided by Eloise Claire, clarescupcakes.co.uk via flickr.
With all the wedding planning going on and my wedding being less than 2 months away, it was time for my bridal shower. A nice break from all the stressful wedding planning. Plus, it was an amazing shower, thanks to the two best maid of honors ever! Abby and Anna did a great job and I was so excited for the shower, even surprised me with a gift that I'd been wanting for a while now. So, I thought I'd share all the great details of the shower with everyone!
The shower was hosted at a local bank board room, which was a great space to use since they had a kitchen and it held everyone comfortably. They chose to go with my colors, pink and black with hints of cream.Pink table cloth with a beautiful floral centerpiece that featured my flowers accented the food table.
We also had a variety of delicious party food, like sausage pinwheels, chicken rollups, fruits, veggies, cheeseball, dip and spinach dip. To finish it off, we had strawberry and coconut cake. They were both extremely good!
I'm not much on bridal shower games, and neither were they, so we opted out on having games at the shower. Instead, they did advice cards, had guests sign a picture frame and sent out a recipe card with the invitation.
Guests brought back their recipe card filled out with their favorite recipes and they put them in a cute recipe book for me. Which was a great idea since I love to try new recipes and am always searching for some to try.
The advice cards were great to read after. Some people wrote, "Never go to bed mad at each other" while others said, "Keep your own bank account". I loved seeing what people had to say. Another great detail that I loved was a bouquet holder for my bows. Perfect, since I plan on doing bow bouquets for our wedding rehearsal!
To say thank you for coming, they set up a little candy bar with all of mine and Bart's favorite candy. Tootsie rolls, Mr. Goodbars, M&M's and chocolate covered raisins were set out for guests to fill up a favor box to take home with them. Don't worry, we have a ton of candy leftover! All the little details were great and I appreciate all the hard work they put into it!
Of course, I got some great gifts as well! Me and Bart went and registered together at 3 out of 4 places together. However, he says he doesn't remember registering for some of the stuff. I mean, I might have scanned a cupcake maker while he wasn't looking, but he definitely knew about the rest!
We got everything from a toaster, blender, serving dishes, towels and even to a "Happy Everything" platter. Abby and Anna got me an item I have wanted for a while, a cricut! Which is great for me since I love doing crafts and will have time to put together a wedding scrapbook maybe! Everything was exactly what we wanted!
So, my wedding shower was a nice break from all the stress of wedding planning. It was a nice break to just relax and breathe, since the wedding is so close now! I truly appreciate everything that Abby and Anna did with this shower. They did a great job!!!
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Do you have the honor of being a lovely bridesmaid in your friend's wedding? Are you ready for the beautiful bridesmaid dress and the responsibilities of what comes along with it? One of the duties that comes with being a bridesmaid is hosting a fabulous bridal shower. However, are you tired of just a traditional theme and want something different? Let Wedding And Party Network help plan your next bridal shower with a fun theme the bride and her guests will truly enjoy.
When you think of bridal showers, do you think of the traditional gathering of friends, food and watching the bride open presents in a big circle? Yes, that's still the focus on the shower, but putting a fun and unusual twist on it will make it truly unique. Here are a few themes that you may want to do for your next shower to make it fun and unique.
Around The Clock: You can still host the traditional luncheon or tea party with this shower, however, add a twist to it with an around the clock theme. The main idea behind this theme is guests should bring gifts that will relate to different "times" in the bride & groom's life. Either different occasions that they might have in their life, like dinner parties, picnics or travel. It can also pertain to different times of the day for the bride & groom.
Maybe the guests will bring luggage for the honeymoon, dishes for breakfast time or a picnic basket full of goodies. Guests will be able to get creative with their gifts and so will you. Base your food around the time of days, set up 3 tables and serve items for breakfast, lunch and dinner or focus on a particular meal of the day. It's a fun bridal shower theme where everyone can get creative!
"Mood" Shower: A bridal shower based on the bride's mood. Go with the traditional bridal shower, except this time, include a card that says, "The bride is in the mood to clean" or "The bride is in the mood to cook". So, the guests can get a gift based around their mood card. Cleaning products, cooking gifts or spa gifts are great gifts given at this shower.
Pound Shower: For the bride & groom who have all they need, throw a pound shower. It's related to a stock the pantry shower, which is bringing kitchen items for their home. Spices, baking tools or a gourmet food basket would be great. However, take it a step further and let guests bring one pound of a household product. Flour, sugar, detergent, eggs, baking soda or whatever the guests can find that comes in a pound. Also, have the guests bring a recipe to go with it and a kitchen gadget that helps create the finishing dish. Maybe a pound of flour, chocolate chip cookie recipe and a baking sheet would be a great idea.
Shower Of Firsts: For the brand new couple, a shower of firsts would be a great start to their happy marriage. Inform guests to bring gifts that will go along with their first year of marriage. A Christmas ornament for their first Christmas, a gift to go along with the first time they burn dinner or their first night apart are just a few of the ideas that guests can get creative with.
Honey-Do Shower:A bridal shower that is catered for both the bride and groom. Couple showers are becoming increasingly popular. This way, the groom gets to have a little fun too. Honey do shower based around the phrase, "Honey, do this" or "Honey, do that". For example, Honey, take out the garbage or honey, that lawn needs to be mowed. Maybe the groom might want to skip out on this shower, it sounds like he'll have a lot of work on his hands.These are just a few shower ideas that you could do for the bride, however, there are so many more! Stock the bar, room of the house, alphabet shower, spa theme, wine and cheese party, travel theme or the game of life shower are more ideas that you can use for a bridal shower theme. Each one is so unique and extremely fun! The bride will be one happy girl with these fun shower themes.
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We all love the holidays, each and every one of them. We all love to decorate and share in the festivities through decorations. However, when people first get married they don't always have a lot of stuff, like dishes, furniture or decorations, let along holiday decorations. Therefore, throwing a holiday bridal shower is the perfect idea. It's a fun holiday party where guests can shower the bride with lots of holiday goodies. Here are a few tips, ideas and variations that you can do to throw a unique bridal shower!
Color Combo: First off, ask your bride what colors she wants to use for her Christmas decorations. Is it the traditional red and green or a unique color, such as green and silver. This is the key since all your party decorations can be catered towards the bride's color combo. Color coordinate the bridal shower invitations with the colors and include what holiday colors the bride will be using in her decor. That way guests can cater to her wants and needs.
Party Decorations: Since this shower will be around Christmas time, more than likely you have someone who has their Christmas decorations out. Therefore, you won't need a lot of party decorations. You want to focus more on the table.
Do you have Christmas tableware that you are planning to get the bride? Well set it out on the table, she'll love to see how she can use it. It plays up the party food table too. If someone plans on getting her a small Christmas tree or even a wreath, use it! She'll be excited when she finds out that she gets to take that home too. Decorating is a cinch around the holidays, so make sure you plan and especially around this time of the year.
Party Food: There are lots of variations that you can do when deciding on what type of party foods you will serve. Does the bride have a sweet tooth? Throw an all dessert bridal shower. You can do a white powdered doughnut tree, which can resemble a snowy covered tree. Unique cake pops are always a hit. You could also do chocolate covered strawberries, brownies, wedding cupcakes, gingerbread men, Christmas themed sugar cookies and all the holiday favorites, such as fudge and divinity. So yummy!
However, if the bride isn't much on sweets, you can do appetizers. Place broccoli on a Styrofoam tree and accent it with cherry tomatoes. It'll look like a Christmas tree with red ornaments. Super cute! You can do veggie trays, dips, cute ornament shaped sandwiches, pine cone or Christmas wreath shaped cheese ball and an adorable themed cake to go with it.One example, I had my bridal shower this past weekend. My colors are chocolate-brown and blue, therefore, they created a cake with chocolate icing and accented it with adorable blue ornaments. It was absolutely darling.
However, if you're not up for stressing over the food; hire a party caterer! There are lots of appetizers that can be catered towards Christmas. Plus, they're all tasty and extremely delicious!
However, the holiday season is ideal to throw this event, you can do it year round too. Just throw a general holiday shower, where guests can bring her items to decorate for spring, Easter, St. Patrick's Day, Thanksgiving and Halloween. You can host a holiday bridal shower however you would like to.
Ask the bride, what does she want most. What are her colors? Just remember to style it towards the bride and your shower will be a hit!
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2024 is here, and that means it’s time for everyone’s favorite blog: wedding trends for the year! If you’re planning a wedding for this year, or hope to plan one soon, we’ve got you covered. Keep reading to learn what’s …
