Bridal Party: Don’t overwork yourselves!
Whether you are traveling far far away or a simple road trip to visit family four hours away, preparing for your ‘vacation’ is more than necessary. This is especially important when an event is foreseen. For me this weekend, it was being the Maid of Honor for the Bridal Shower of my best friend Lindsay since kindergarten! Not so much of a ‘vacation’ but more so a mandatory pre-wedding event! Nonetheless, my essential ‘emergency packing kit’ included many items in case this three-hour situation called upon my honorable services due in order to live up to my title. To name a few: my camera (fully charged), band-aids/Neosporin, make-up of all sorts, bottle of wine (never show up empty-handed), and pain killers. Some duties the MOH (Maid of Honor) needs to accomplish are not so easy to identify, such as being the mother hen for the emotional bride. Fortunately for me, Linds is just not that type of gal. She is more of the two Sangria drinks only followed by coffee, drive the MOH to bridal shower, chocolate fountain with strawberries, tri-tip eating, Bridezilla chemical engineer/country girl (is this possible? Well, in short, yes.)
Attending the bridal shower, co hosted by mother and grandmother of the bride, I was under high radar and observation. Imagine you are surrounded by all female friends and family of the bride, and all of these females will be attending the wedding accordingly. The pressure can be intense, but just remember whom specifically you are there for and chat with those you feel best striking up a conversation with. This is a great opportunity to get to know who will be at all of the pre-wedding events, including many who will be at the rehearsal dinner and others for the bachelorette party. It’s also a great idea to engage more with the other bridesmaids and chat about the upcoming bachelorette party planning and their ideas for it. Also, one bridal shower game was plenty for this older crowd, they all sighed with relief after the ‘How Well do You know the Bride~To~Be?’ questionnaire game! Be sure to include prizes for these games as well, it seems to help smooth the process.
With some patience, a night of full sleep, and a chilled glass of Chardonnay in one hand, you can follow these tips from The Knot to help you maneuver a Bridal Shower when that time in your life may arise:
- Dress up, not down! It is important to make a great impression even when most are dressed pretty casual. Keep it fun and ‘bridal party’ friendly though.
- Speak of the bride as the ‘topic of choice’ and invite her over to pitch in on hints about her dress, shoes, etc.
- Offer to plan the bride so that she can have as many drinks as she would like. (Again, my bride~to~be is the Control Type, which meant I drank more while she drove!)
- Engage everyone with the games, help collect answers with the hostesses.
- Take plenty of photos! Get creative and set up the bridal party next to the view or pretty garden pavilion.
- Keep track of which guest gave which present, and another should make sure cards stay with the right boxes — then thank-you notes won’t be a nightmare for the bride.
- Help with clean up, picking up tissue paper, and putting away dishes.
Don’t forget, always say thank you to the hostesses or co-hostess of your bridal shower!
Have you recently attended a bridal shower? Was it a success or failure? Did the bride~to~be love it?
Lindsay trying on the Maid of Honor sash on me!
The tables outside where we were able to enjoy the Summer sunshine!
Related articles
- Your Bridal Shower (giggisbridalboutique.com)
- Hot Bridal Shower Themes (dressestb.wordpress.com)
- Planning A Bridal Shower (mypapershop.com)
- What to Wear to All Your Other Bridal Parties (theberkeleyplaza.wordpress.com)
- Bridal Showers 101 (mypapershop.com)
- Wedding Shower Wednesday! (acarolinabelle.wordpress.com)
- The runaway bridal shower (caroljacoby.wordpress.com)
Jessica Bales 