Centerpieces are the focal point of your bridal shower table.  Keep the size of the table in mind when creating your centerpiece.  You’ll want to make it proportional to the table.  It shouldn’t take up so much room that it makes the table look too crowded, and it shouldn’t be so small that it gets lost among the food items. 

Color can really make a centerpiece ‘pop’ out.  Work in the bride’s wedding colors, or if this is a theme bridal shower, such as a kitchen shower, you can work with the colors the bride has chosen for her kitchen.

Making a centerpiece out of food such as fruit can be a wonderful way to have your centerpiece serve ‘double duty’.  There are specialty stores that make wonderful fruit creations that would work well as a centerpiece, but if you’re handy, you can also find a picture and recreate it yourself.

Consider letting your bridal shower favors double as your centerpiece.  Favor boxes can be stacked in order to resemble a wedding cake.  Decorate the sides with silk rosebuds and ribbons and place a tiny ‘cake topper’ on top to complete the look. 

Purchase a small lace umbrella or parasol, turn it upside down in the center of the table and fill with flowers or all of your wrapped favors.  Decorate the parasol with streaming ribbons, and you’ve got a beautiful centerpiece that your guests will remember long after the shower is over.

Bridal showers are an excellent way to help a new bride get ready to set up her new home.  With all the gadgets and gizmos required to set up a new kitchen, it’s no wonder that kitchen-theme bridal showers are quite popular.  In fact, they’re essential.

Here’s an idea that will not only help stock the kitchen with all the necessary utensils, but also stock up the bride’s recipe file as well.  Choose a specific food theme.  A few ideas could be soups, salads, breads, pastries, entrees, cookies, general desserts, etc.  For our example here, we’ll use the theme of cookies.  Have each guest bring a plate of their favorite cookies to share at the shower.  In addition, have each guest write out their recipe for their cookies and present it to the bride-to-be along with their shower gift.  If there is any specialty utensils required, in the making of their cookies, such as whisks, cookie cutters, etc., suggest that they include that utensil as part of their gift.

This type of kitchen shower also has the added benefit of helping to supply the refreshments for your guests.  If your theme is cookies, breads or pastries, provide several types of refreshing flavored teas for your guests to enjoy with their goodies.  For a soup theme, all you would need to add would be some small sandwiches or cheese and crackers. 

You can even opt to choose a style of food such as Italian, Chinese, Mexican, etc.  With a little coordination on your part, you could end up serving a beautiful full meal to your guests with a minimum of work.  Being able to taste each dish will also help the bride know which dishes she will want to make most often. 

Be sure to incorporate your theme into your invitations, decorations, and bridal shower favors.  This will be one bridal shower that everyone will be sure to remember!

When you think of bridal shower guest lists, you immediately think of women.  All of the bride’s friends, family, coworkers, etc.  However, it is perfectly acceptable to invite the groom to the shower as well.  If you are worried that the groom will feel uncomfortable or out of place in a roomful of women, consider throwing a couple’s shower, inviting other husbands or boyfriends.  If you’re planning games, be sure to adapt them to your couple’s shower as well as the bridal shower favors.

 Bridal shower guest lists need to be created with several things in mind.  First of all, you don’t want to invite the same people over and over to showers for the same bride-to-be.  Other than the bride’s mother, the groom’s mother and the bride’s attendants, no one should be expected to attend more than one shower for the same person.

In addition, you want to be sure that they people you invite to a bridal shower have also been invited to the wedding.  Double check the guest list with the bride in order to make sure that this oversight does not occur.  The only exception to this rule would be if the couple are planning a very small, exclusive wedding, inviting only immediate family.

Bridal shower guest list should be kept small.  Don’t go to the extreme and rent a large reception hall and invite every female on the wedding guest list.  Smaller parties are more intimate and special. 

A maid of honor has a big responsibility; planning a bridal shower can be stressful and tough. A bridal shower should be fun and practical. The focus should be to assist the bride and groom in establishing a new life together. A bridal shower is also an occasion for friends and family to get together and relax before the big wedding day.

The following tips may be helpful to a first-time shower organizer:

• Don’t invite people to the shower who haven’t been invited to the wedding.
• Decide whether you want “girls only” or a couple’s party.
• Remember most showers are held during the afternoon.
• Encourage the bride to register for gifts.
• Don’t forget to give bridal shower favors to all guests.

On September 1, 2008, we released our newest idea for helping the bride on a budget to save even more time and money without having to sacrifice quality.  We call this new idea ‘Favor Bundles’ and it’s exactly what it sounds like.  We’ve taken 3 similar favors and grouped them together to create a new way to purchase and present your favors. 

The favor bundles are a perfect gift for your out-of-town guests.  Arrange the favors in a decorative basket or gift bag with your guests’ names on each basket.  Then just drop them off at the hotel where they will be staying and your guests will be presented with these ‘welcome gifts’ when they check in.

Our new favor bundles are also great for bridal or baby showers.  They can be given together or individually as thank-you gifts for your guests.  They also make excellent prizes for any shower games you  have planned.  Each favor bundle creates a theme that can be worked into almost any party.

Purchasing our Wedding Favor Reflections Favor Bundles also allows you to see 3 different favors firsthand before presenting them to your guests at your reception or shower.  We’ve discounted the price on our bundles so that you pay 15% less than purchasing these favors individually.  The uses for these bundles are limited only by your imagination.

Planning a bridal showershould be as much fun to plan as it is to attend.  In order to accomplish this tall feat, there are a few do’ and don’ts you’ll need to follow.

DO:
     *  Start planning early.  Give yourself plenty of time to   accomplish everything
         without spreading yourself too thin.
     *  Recruit the help of others.  Mothers, sisters, bridesmaids and coworkers would
         probably welcome the opportunity to ‘pitch in’.
     *  Set a ‘theme’ for your bridal shower.  This makes decorating, gift-giving, &
         games easier to plan.
     *  Send out invitations 10 - 12 days before the shower.  Include RSVP date along
         with your phone number.  Include stores where bride is registered.
     *  Purchase party supplies early.  It’s better to purchase more than not enough.
         You can always return unopened supplies after the shower.
     *  Shop online for bridal shower favors.  Purchase extra favor to be used as prizes
         for the shower games.
     *  Use disposable items such as paper plates, napkins, plastic-ware, tablecloth and
         decorations.  Incorporate bride’s wedding colors.
     *  Plan simple refreshments that can be made ahead. 

DON’T:
     *  Plan the shower later than a month before the wedding. 
     *  Try to do it all yourself.  Planning a shower is much more fun with friends.
     *  Go overboard with fancy and elaborate refreshments or food items that need to
          be made at the last minute. 
     *  Forget to order the shower cake a week in advance. 
     *  Make the shower too long.  You can fit playing games, opening gifts, eating and 
         chatting all within a couple of hours.
     *  Forget about the clean-up.  Every item you use that is not disposable will need
         to be washed. 

Keeping these few things in mind when planning your bridal shower will make things go a lot more smoothly.  Then all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the party life everyone else.