How to Plan a Successful Bridal Shower

The last bridal party I attended was kind of fun, but it was rather stuffy. The bride-to-be's elderly aunt hosted the party, and she served a sit-down meal in her formal dining room with her crystal goblets and china plates. We were all so worried about breaking something and minding our table manners to chat. So we all sat there in silence as we ate. I'm not knocking a formal bridal shower, but it's not for a bunch of energetic young girls in jeans and tee shirts.

It used to be that the Maid of Honor was the one who threw the shower. It was considered to be in "poor taste" for a relative of the bride-to-be to do it. That was the "rule of etiquette." Today, however, anything goes as actually any female family member or friend can host it.

Since the majority of women work outside their homes nowadays, it's also common for a female co-worker to host an additional bridal shower for the bride-to-be's close coworkers to attend.

If you want to plan a successful bridal shower, the first item on the agenda is to plan when the party will be. You'll need to send out the invitations about four to six weeks ahead of time. You can't please everyone, so don't even try to work around everyone's schedule. The most important thing is to choose a date and a time when the bride-to-be can attend.

Next, decide where the bridal shower will be held. You can hold it at your house, at someone else's house, at a public hall, at a park pavilion, and so on.

The second thing to do is make up the guest list. It's a rule of etiquette, and just plain common sense, that you should invite ladies who are also invited to the wedding. Can you imagine how you would feel being invited to the shower but being excluded from the wedding day festivities?

Typically, you should invite the mothers of the bride and groom. "Mothers" includes birth and step mothers. Don't forget the grandmothers, step grandmothers, great grandmothers, and even great-great grandmothers if there are any. Then there are the aunts of the bride and groom and the girl cousins. Their sisters, step sisters, half sisters, and sister-in-laws should be invited too.