Bridal Showers Explained: What's the Point? (2024)

FAQs

Bridal Showers Explained: What's the Point? ›

A time when female family members and friends gather to celebrate the bride-to-be and help prepare her for married life, the bridal shower is a chance for the woman of the hour to spend quality time with the most important ladies in her life and prepare for her future as a newlywed.

The purpose: to shower the bride with good wishes, congratulations, and gifts. It's as simple as that! During a bridal shower, guests come together to celebrate the bride and have some fun. The event usually includes activities, games, and sometimes even a theme.

The main purpose of the party is for all your female friends to come over (or go out to a restaurant or some other destination) and shower you (Mrs. Bride-To-Be) with gifts in anticipation of your new life as a married woman. As the bride, you can still invite whomever you want.

Both Friend Groups Come Together Before the Wedding

Moreover, a couples shower allows you to combine both sides of your new family. This opens the door for new memories and connections. Your wedding day is about you, but it's more fun when everyone from both sides can connect and have fun together.

A bridal shower traditionally involves giving gifts to the future wife. The history of the custom is rooted not necessarily for the provision of goods for the upcoming matrimonial home, but to provide goods and financial assistance to ensure the wedding may take place.

Bridal showers aren't required, so if you're not interested, here's how to spread the word. Not every to-be-wed wants a bridal shower, and that's totally their call. While saying "no" to having a bridal shower should be simple in theory, declining a friend or family member's offer to throw you one can be tricky.

In short, the host is the one who pays for the bridal shower—or at least some of it. Most commonly, this is the maid of honor, but the couple's relatives, friends or even the to-be-weds themselves can all pitch in to cover the cost of the wedding shower.

If you're going all out with an elaborate bridal shower, you could be talking $40 to $150 or more (gasp!) per person. Even a small, elaborate bridal shower (think 15 guests) could cost between $600 and $2,250—and that's before invitations, decorations and cake.

Today, it's common for the maid of honor or matron of honor — sometimes in conjunction with the mother of the bride — to plan the shower. However, the bridesmaids, wedding party, and the bride's family can all pitch in if necessary. Another modern trend is to make bridal showers gender inclusive.

While a typical bridal shower can be gender-specific or highly focused on the bride's side, a wedding shower includes all! It's usually a larger event that has more of a party atmosphere.

Who is responsible for a bridal shower? ›

The maid of honor traditionally takes on the role of chief shower planner. But she isn't a one-woman show: She relies on the bridesmaids to help her with planning logistics. On the day of, the girls run the party, making sure everything goes smoothly and that guests are taken care of.

The origin of the bridal shower dates back to 16th-century Holland, when a young girl's father refused to provide a dowry for a marriage he disapproved of. The town got together and offered small gifts to help her start her home without the dowry money.

If your bridal shower party planner can't bear the idea that you don't want a bridal shower, suggest an alternative that seems similar to a bridal shower in their mind, but is an event you're more open to.

Bridal showers are a joyful pre-wedding tradition—and with up to 72% of soon-to-be-married couples celebrating their upcoming nuptials with a wedding or bridal shower, chances are you'll attend or host one at some point.

As you are creating the guest list, keep in mind that men usually aren't invited to the bridal shower. However, it's ok to include male guests if you're hosting a co-ed wedding shower for the couple.

It's totally up to you and your fiancé to decide whether he will attend the bridal shower.

In short, yes. If you're attending a bridal shower, you should always bring a gift with you to congratulate the bride. This is considered good bridal shower etiquette. Even if you're a part of the bridal party or wedding party, a gift is still necessary.