Bridal Shower Invitation

Weddings can be ridiculously expensive. Many couples get lost in the details of table decorations and menu planning and forget about the whole idea of gathering loved ones together to help them celebrate their nuptials. The once sweet and innocent bridal shower has even been infected with the materialism bug. Guests who receive bridal shower invitations often cringe at the thought of having to buy yet another gift for the same couple. Guests should look forward to a bridal shower, not feel a tug on their bank account.

In this day and age when couples are waiting longer to get married and are already established in their careers, there should be a trend in bridal showers toward more fun and less gifts. There are many ways to throw a bridal shower that get away from the traditional “buy a mixer and toast the pure bride” mold. So get your thinking cap on and start brainstorming for the sake of the people who will receive those bridal shower invitations. I will give you some freebies, in case you need a jump start on the brainstorming.

Something involving food or wine will always make people happy. Send out bridal shower invitations to a wine tasting party. Your guests can taste and then choose the wine that will be downed at the wedding reception. You can buy jackets for the wine to hide the labels and allow everyone a chance to comment and vote on their favorite bottle. Another option is to have a “stock the wine cellar” party, in which everyone brings a bottle to stock your home collection. Have sharpie markers on hand, so guests can sign the bottles. You will smile whenever you get a new bottle out of the collection in later years, as you toast to the person who gave it to you.

Food and cooking can be the centerpiece of the party too. One idea is to have all the guests bring the recipe of their signature dish. All the guests can then glue the recipe on a page in the book and decorate it however they want. You then have a cookbook of tried and true recipes and will remember your friends every time you make something from it. If you have culinary geniuses in your circle of friends, you can go with something more advanced. Have your guests make an appetizer. Let the attendees choose the best one by casting votes on slips of paper. Serve the best hors doeuvre at the wedding reception by calling it by the guest who created it (The Sarah Simmered Stuffed Mushroom).

Send out the bridal shower invitations and let your guests eat, drink and be merry. Put your thinking cap on and come up with something different. You will be happy that you did not put pressure on anyone to buy you more gifts and will have fun appreciating the fact that your guests are there to help you celebrate.

Engagement Parties are announcement parties and engagement invitations are sent to guests to attend a party where the important announcement of marriage plans is to be made. The engagement invitations are usually sent by the parents of the bride who traditionally host the party but it is not uncommon these days for the parents of the bride and groom to share the responsibility of hosting the party and sending the engagement invitations. The date time and location should be mentioned on engagement invitations in addition to the names of the bride and groom for the guests to arrive in time for the announcement. To make it easy for budgeting a response card matching the engagement invitations should be included with a date by which the host expects to receive the response card. If the couple is planning on publishing the news of their engagement in the newspaper engagement invitations should be sent for the party which should be held on the same day as the publication. Engagement invitations are sent for an introduction to the family party where the couple makes the important announcement that they are planning to marry.