Planning the Perfect Bridal Shower – TréCreative Tips&Tricks
Back in January, I had the huge honor of hosting and planning a bridal shower for my long time friend and past TréBride, Maddie! Her shower was happening during our off season so I gladly said I could take on this project. It had been a while since I had planned a bigger event like this and from this experience came a huge learning curve!
My overall goal of this shower was to bless and honor my sweet friend who deserved the shower of her dreams more than anything! In saying yes, I set into planning mode and learned some valuable lessons when it comes to planning a shower. Many of our very own TréCreative brides have friends getting married or have helped plan a bridal shower. This post is to inspire and create a one of a kind stress-free experience for not only the host but the bride involved!
When planning my friend's shower there are a few lessons I would love to pass along. Please know that I am in no way an event planner or have ever had that kind of experience. There is a reason why professionals are hired to plan showers and wedding days, it can be a lot of work! Luckily, I did have help along the way. My good friend Brittany who has had lots of experience planning parties gave me a few pointers. Along with her amazing pointers and the lessons I learned from my own experience, here are five helpful tips for planning a bridal shower!
- Have a Purpose - Now, I know this might sound silly but in every business or planning decision, Stephen and I have learned we need to understand the "why" behind every decision. When times are tough, or you're trying to figure out where money should be spent, you can always come back to your why. So for instance, if your purpose of throwing your friend a shower is to surprise her with the best decorations ever, splurge on those! If you want to shower your friend with kind words and encouragement, then you have that goal to go off. Having each guest's write down or speak words of encouragement would be a lovely and purposeful activity for the event. Base your "why" on the bride. If you know her well, this will help you determine which aspects of the party to focus your efforts on.
- Delegate Tasks - This also seems like a no brainer but when planning my friend's shower, I tried to take on too many tasks myself. I wanted to be in charge of the games, decorations and everything in between. I took on TOO much and this is a very common mistake. I needed to delegate more tasks to others who were more than willing to help! Delegate as many tasks as you can. If you think you've passed along enough tasks to others, pass along some more and you'll thank me later!
- Set-Up and Clean-Up Crew - This was my saving grace. Stephen stayed around longer in the morning to help me re-arrange furniture to get our home ready for having 50 women over. After the shower, he helped as well as other bridesmaids to clean up. Make sure to let bridesmaids or those involved that you'll need them to come early or stay after to help clean up before or after the shower. This allows you to know in advance if anyone has to leave early so you can recruit extra helpers in advance. Creating clear expectations of what you expect from other bridesmaids is very important!
- Spell Check Everything - Yep, I said it! When working with a designer on Etsy I accidently looked too quickly over her rough draft for the shower invite. After I went to the printer, then I realized one word was spelled wrong. This word wasn't enough to force me to reprint the invitations but it came close. Always double and triple check the verbiage and spelling on your invitations :D
- Quality over Quantity - I'll admit, I looked on Pinterest for ideas and got way too excited and overwhelmed. I spent several days before the shower trying to create decorations and stressing myself out over these little details. Instead, what I needed to do was choose a few decorations and execute them really well instead of trying to do so many things.
Hope this helps as you all plan future bridal showers and parties!
If you want to read some of our other Tips&Tricks posts, check out our recent one about alternative gift registries, or look here for all our TréCreative Tips&Tricks!