Tuesday 13 November 2007

Bridal Showers

Hello people,
How is everyone? We are fine and all is well, thank God. We will open our mailbox and anwser your questions this week. Thank you for all your comments and compliments. We foung this article on showers.........enjoy

Molara and Gbemi









Bridal Shower Themes

The job of planning a shower for the Bride-to-Be falls on the maid of honor. But it is just as common for all the bridesmaids to pitch in. Legend has it the first shower was thrown for a couple deeply in love, but lacking the money to marry. Their friends and family got together and "showered" the couple with gifts to help them start their new life together.

Today, the tradition lives, but it's more of an opportunity for the bride to gather with her girlfriends one last time before her big day! Although not necessary, a theme for the bridal shower can help bring a focus to the festivities. Once the shower theme is decided, all the details can come into place and the fun can begin! Bridal shower themes can be anything from a single color to an exotic locale, or the bride's favorite pastime.

A popular bridal shower theme is "Pampering the Bride".

The ladies get together and shower the bride with gifts meant to help her relax and unwind before the biggest day of her life. When planning a pampering shower, the invitation should instruct the guests to bring items suited to the purpose, such as bath products, gift certificates to a spa or salon, and yoga lessons.

One idea is to have the shower at a spa or salon. There are plenty of places that specialize in hosting showers. What is more enjoyable than to spend a day at a spa with a group of your best girls?

Themes can also be practical, catered to fulfill the bride's or the couple's needs. For instance, a honeymoon shower will focus the topic of discussion on the honeymoon destination. Gifts can include helpful items like maps, travel books, or luggage. Food, wedding decorations, bridal shower favors and music can also be used to incorporate the theme of a honeymoon destination.

The ideas are limitless, so use your imagination and make the occasion meaningful as well as unforgettable!

Popular Bridal Shower Themes. . .Room of the HouseEach guest is "assigned" a room of the house and brings a gift to be used in that room.

Lingerie

Guests bring their favorite lingerie for the bride!

Around the Clock

Each guest is assigned a "time," such as breakfast time or bath time. Their gifts should reflect this time.

Ethnic Theme

Using the bride's heritage, plan a shower with her favorite ethnic foods! For example, serve fresh fruit, isi ewu, and palm-wine an eastern area themed wedding shower. The decorations and favors should also have an ethnic flair.

Christmas Ornament

Guests are instructed to bring a ornament for the couple's first Christmas tree.

Garden Party

Host a shower in a garden setting and decorate the tables with beautiful flowers. Ask guests to bring gifts that the bride in use in her garden.

Stock the Bar

If you're throwing a couple wedding shower, a popular theme is stock the pantry. Guests bring gifts to help the couple stock their bar.

Month of the Year

Each guest is assigned a month of the year. This allows the bride to receive seasonal gifts that she can enjoy throughout the year.

Favorite Memories

Each guest brings a gift that represents a favorite past time spent with the bride.

Pajamas Theme

Have guests arrive in the evening dressed in their PJ's. The evening is filled with manicures, pedicures, facials and massages, and lots of girl talk!

Stock the Pantry

Have each guest write their favorite recipe on a recipe card and bring the card along with all non-perishable ingredients for the recipe in a box or gift basket.

Major Molara & Gbemi Rant:

Like the above article says a sister, besto, maid of honour/chief bridesmaid is the one to plan a shower. In some cases the wedding planner with special instructions from the above. Here comes our rant on bridal showers:

Showers are not meant to be male bashing, in-law bashing parties. Keep your sad stories to yourself or save your story for when you are alone with the bride.

If you are invited to a shower DO NOT invite other guests – most times showers are intimate. If you are required to invite other guests you will be told.

If you cannot afford to host a shower do not volunteer – it is extremely TACKY to go round collecting money from friends of the bride you don’t know. Gather a few common friends that you KNOW and raise funds.

Be mature – what happens at bridal showers SHOULD stay at bridal showers

14 comments:

Arewa said...

Thanks for the info.. im off to forwrd this email to my soon to be appointed Maid of Honour.....i better start dropping hints now and they better not slack or else i wil be forced to go into Bridezilla mode ooh ..lol

Love the cake featured above and the whole idea of the signed picture. Thanks again and Have anice day. xx x

AJ said...

Ok Ms. Gbems & Mollie Mols ... I LOVE the rant and I am about to get in on it ... Bridesmaids the shower is not a time to express your grievances towards one another, wait till after the wedding before you have your catfights ... It is also not a time to see who is the better friend based on how much you contributed or what gifts you bought ... ALSO it is the soon to be MRS. day, so please don't be stealing the shine ... your own day will come (In Jesus name, AMEN), and you know you sure won't like it if someone else stole your thunder ... ok ... nuff said for now ...

Anonymous said...

hahaha- love hoe real your rants are, always spot on,especially the one about the bride's friends trying to claim 'i'm closer than you, No i know her more than you'
great posts per ideas and lovely pictures!

Anonymous said...

Thanx for the info...loving ur rants..so true....

errm sorry a lil' off the topic for today...what colour(s) do u think would go with navy blue or sky blue for a bridal party?? would appreciate ur opinion:-)..thx

Anonymous said...

Call me old-fashion but i think bridal showers are for western women.

AJ said...

Wienna! Wienna! Wienna!!!! Please o!! Even in Naija we have bridal showers not just as elaborate as it is out here and then you have older women just there talking and talking and talking and then segwaying into how their own husbands were XYZ and before you know what is going on, all the other women join in ... I'll take the Western bridal shower anytime any day ... A group of my girls getting together to send me off in style and i get some crazy lingerie and some other unmentionables... Sounds exciting to me ...

AJ said...

Hey Abi ... let me help you out a little ... i love color blending ... hey guys (gbems & Mols), my article is coming I promise, don't write me off yet ... LOVE YA!!! ;)) Ok Abi tell me what you are going for because i have a few colors in mind however they could go in any direction. R u going for chic, elegant, romantic, racy ... Y'know give me a lil more to work with ... & R u opposed to blending more than 1 color? Ok I'll check back & see wat u got 4 me in the AM ... good nite ladies
P.S Hollering @ Moe ... where r u lady? Missin u on da blog

Uzo said...

I love, love the rant and i agree 100% about the tackiness of collecting money from the bride's friends especially those that you the organizer dont know....

I love your blog...

AJ said...

Ok I have been trying to post this scenario now for like 3 days and it is not letting me, I don't know why ... however here goes another attempt ...
This happens too many times and based on Molara and Gbemi's rant I would like to know what to do ...
Ok ... Yolanda is planning her nuptials and you her one of her very close firends ... You have opted out of the train because you are married/planning your own wedding or for whatever reasons best known to you. She has chosen another friend; Ciara to be her MOH and a few friends as her maids ...

You have been highly involved in helping her plan her wedding and you are almost a maid but not quite ... So her wedding is around the corner and all her maids are acting RAZZ, they have not yet started planning her bridal shower and don't even know how to put it together ... Ciara is MIA and time is running out ... So what do you do, you plan the shower single handedly and send out an invite ...

My question is... HAVE YOU CROSSED THE LINE?

Anonymous said...

If you dont have time to be MOH what time do you have to plan the shower hehehe

Anonymous said...

lol@ above anon-
Ayoteju, its your number one fan and you've got me again with the vivid scenario of 'old women talking and talking and talking!'classic :-)
great post as usual- i'm getting married next month and i specifically asked my bridesmaids not to throw a shower- one, they havnt lived innaija for a while, i didnt want them to get ripped off planning smothing at N2000 a bottle of coke churasco/ 2 i dnt nec like being hte center of attention if i can help it, three, to be quite honest- i only asked most of my bridesmaids to be on the train cos my FI insisted he had 8 close friends who had to be groomsmen, i wanted just two QED they rnt close and my friends are scattered guess i'll just rather have a 'shower' with my sisters or bestos!
that said the mM& Grant is sooo on point-
Wienna, i feel you, but just check the shower as their gift to you...it can be anything they wnt it to be as loud or as posh, you decided
To Abi, have you thought of navy/ midnight blue and silver- very crisp- gbemi has pics on her website from the QC blue ball or tiffany blue and orange or wine- i believe BCG has a design in those colors
and yes Ayoteju, its Moe!! and moe is close than you think :)

AJ said...

HIIIIIIIIYAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!! Moe ... Thanks for hollering @ ur gurl ... & CONGRATS on ur upcoming nuptials ... Hopefully your maids r not as loopy as the ones we have been talking about ...

Well keep it coming ladies, you know u've got some wild stories to tell ...

& Abi I was waiting 4 u to tell me the look u were going for ... let me just add to the list Moe has given you ...
navy Blue & Lilac
baby blue/aqua w/fuchsia or chocolate (HOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!& Tres Chic)

Navy Blue and Lime green
baby blue and lime green w/chocolate

navy blue and fucshia/burgundy
or just go with varying shades of blue from Navy to Sky ... mix it all in

Hope that helps

Anonymous said...

loluandfemi.com

Anonymous said...

Congrats Moe!!!!!!!!!!
Thanx to u & Oyemvwe for responding, sorry for being MIA..was out of town & blogville too..lol....thx a lot for ur ideas..will let u kno wat i decide..no I am not oppposed to blending with more than one colour; issue is d guy wants to stand out..sth different, doesn't want the normal white shirt,blk suit and watevr colour we choose for d vest and tie, so kinda stuck there...ermm how does one make d groom stand out too??? no white suit pls...ve any of u seen a guy wear a diff. colour of shirt other than d usual white/ivory/black??? how did he compliment his bride???
What's the website for the QC blue ball thingy pls??