The Stylist's Guide's Top 5 Tips: Planning A Bridal Shower
With wedding season almost upon us, we thought we’d fill you in on our top five tips when it comes to planning a bridal shower - whether you’re organising for your daughter, bestie, cousin or yourself, it’s the perfect excuse to get fancy with your closest family and friends!
Navigating wedding events can be tough, especially if you haven’t done so before! They often also involve team work, money and lots of time invested to make sure your bride has the absolute best lead-up to her wedding as possible.
So who pays for the Bridal Shower? We hear you ask. Well, traditionally the bridal party or host will pay for the shower, but this is entirely up to you! Before you begin your planning, we would recommend setting out a budget that you are all comfortable with, and remember - communication is key!
Without further adieu, here are our top five tips.
Number One: The Guest List
Before getting into the nitty gritty details, our first tip is to get your guest list sorted! This step is crucial to planning the perfect bridal shower as it will determine what kind of venue to hire, how many place settings you need and what kind of food you’re going to choose.
We would highly recommend having your bride involved in finalising the guest list, to make sure she has all of her favourite people there to celebrate with. Usually, a bridal shower will have between 30 - 50 guests.
Number Two: Set The Date
After you’ve finalised your guest list, it’s now time to set the date! Check with your bride to make sure she doesn’t have any other pre-wedding events or activities organised. This is important, as bridal showers are often held 6-8 weeks before the wedding - which is the prime time for fittings or rehearsals to take place! Allowing 6-8 weeks before the wedding also allows the happy couple enough time to unpack gifts from the shower and send out thank-yous, before their big day.
Number Three: Location, Location, Location
Now that you have a guest list and date, it’s time to choose your venue! Traditionally, bridal showers are held at the home of the host, however if you want to mix it up we recommend choosing a venue that reflects your bride that is big enough for all of your guests. If your bride is into nature, you could consider organising the shower in a park! Or if she’s into small bars, how about hiring out an inner city bar or function room? The possibilities are endless…
Most importantly, make sure your chosen venue is easy to get to, has ample parking and enough space to accommodate your party.
Number Four: Choose a Theme
Here at The Stylist’s Guide we are big believers in choosing a theme that suits your venue. Whether this is reflected in the colour palette, the style of decor or based on a destination (hello, Amalfi), it’s important to make sure your bride’s personality shines through. Whether you include the bride in this step is up-to you, however if she is someone with particular taste, we would recommend running the theme by her. After-all it’s her day, so you want to make sure the event reflects everything she loves!
Number Five: Invitations
Lastly, our fifth tip is to arrange your invitations as soon as you have all of your details locked in. It’s important to get this organised as soon as possible, as designing, ordering, printing and sending out invitations can be a lengthy process. You also want to give guests plenty of time to organise a gift and save the date, so we would recommend sending out your invitations 6-8 weeks prior to the shower.
Details to include on your invites:
Time, date, location
Registry or gift giving information
Dress code
Any additional info about parking or getting there
RSVP date - this should be two weeks prior to the event to ensure you have enough time to confirm with the bride, venue or vendors.
invitation via Pinterest
invitation via Pinterest
So there you have it, our top five tips to consider when organising a bridal shower.
Do you need help organising yours? Contact us , we’d love to help!
