Bridal Showers are definitely not easy (and sometimes not fun) to plan Here are some steps/tips/tricks on how to do it!
Step 1: Find a venue. We had Sara’s at Atlantic Beach Club because of the location on the beach (great views/pictures), the proximity to bars (for afterwards), and the food/open bar package. Pro tip: Plan a Friday night shower. It was so much fun being able to have dinner, drink from an open bar, and go out to bars after! It’s definitely not customary, but it made it that much more fun.
Step 2: Figure out your theme. A lot of research went into this part for me - Tiktok, Instagram, Pinterest etc. Find something that relates to your bride. The hardest part was trying to figure out a theme that wouldn’t make my sister cringe. She made it known that she didn’t want a saying (i.e. “She Found Her Main Squeeze”). So given my sister’s favorite candy is cotton candy I thought it’d be perfect to make it a cotton candy theme, incorporate a lot of pink, and leave out any “cringey saying”.
Step 3: Make, rent, or buy a backdrop for pictures (See pic above). Thankfully my dad is very handy and built us this cotton candy backdrop all by himself. However, there are a ton of companies that rent or sell backdrops. If you’re not looking to spend a ton of money… here are some tips on a homemade backdrop: Buy a backdrop stand off Amazon. Buy a roll of “Safety Fence Plastic Mesh Fencing Roll” or chicken wire if you want to stick fake flowers or anything else in it. In our case we bought packages of Poly-Fil, super glued that to a tarp sheet, spray painted the poly-fill pink and assembled it onto the backdrop stand. We borrowed the “Bride to Be” sign from a friend. Pro Tip: Ask friends who previously hosted a shower to borrow things they used. They’re likely not going to be using it for a while.
Step 4: Dessert table. This was daunting at first because there were so many elements that we wanted for this table. We had cotton candy flavored cupcakes, a cake, cake pops, red velvet and funfetti cake pops, rice krispie treats, “B” cookies for her new last initial, chocolate covered oreos, chocolate covered pretzels, donuts, lemon cookies, and a lot of different pink-ish candies. Pro Tip: If you are trying to order baked goods do so in advance! We had my friend bake the cake, cupcakes, and cake pops. We had some trouble finding people who were available to make cookies and chocolate covered oreos last minute but it actually turned out great because we made our own and it was super easy. (Bride to be cake topper)
Step 5: Decorations. Hobby Lobby and Amazon were our saving graces. My mom was a regular at Hobby Lobby for months. Here we got the candy jars, platters, stands, clear bags for the baked goods, frames, sprinkles, etc. They have great sales and discounts so just keep a lookout. For a welcome sign we bought this frame and my cousin used her Cricut to print the letters. For the seating “chart”: we had mini bags of cotton candy and printed a little label that said “Sara’s Bridal Shower” the table number they were assigned to and their name. Pro Tip: Buy Avery Labels and go on avery.com and create your own it’s easier to replicate than cricut in our opinion (this kind of sticker could be great for favors too).
Step 6: Centerpieces and table settings. There was a horror story with our original centerpieces but I won’t bore you. We ended up opting for fresh flowers in a large vase with pink yarn that we used as fake cotton candy. We decided to order flowers from Trader Joes (just learned that you can do this). All you have to do is call the store before 5 pm, 2 full days before you want to pick them up and ask for a certain type of flower. Although they can’t promise specific colors, they do their best. We ordered a case of peonies and a case of dahlias. When I got to Trader Joes the morning of the shower to pick them up, they informed me that the dahlias did not show up on the truck that morning. It ended up being perfect and we just used all peonies but just beware! As for the table numbers, we ordered these frames on amazon and printed out the sign on card stock. At every place setting they had their games printed out, a pen, and their favor which was a mini bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes that had a tag on it saying “Nothing Bundt Love for Sara and Ryan”.
Step 7: Figure out what games you want to play. Some of ours the crowd enjoyed: “Ring Game” - at the entrance we had a bowl of fake engagement rings, you take one and put it on at the beginning of the night, if you say “bride” or “wedding” and someone calls you out - you have to give them your ring and the person at the end of the night with the most rings is a winner. “Name that love tune” - We played 10 songs that had to do with love and the crowd had to guess. “How well do you know the bride”/”How well do you know the groom?” - questions about them. “Where in the world are Sara and Ryan” - We displayed 10 framed pictures of Sara and Ryan on their trips/vacations and the guests had to guess where they were. “How many Kisses for the soon to be Mrs.?” - Guess how many Hershey Kisses were in a jar. Musical chairs (but with a bouquet) - Every table played and the last one standing that didn’t get caught holding the bouquet went to the center of the room for a final round - this one was a hit! All winners got prizes.
Step 8: Hire a photographer. This can be a friend with a good camera or an actual professional photographer it doesn’t matter. My mom, sister, and I were running around trying to make sure everything was perfect and didn’t have time to capture pictures of the decorations, bride, friends/family. The pictures we got from the shower were great and allowed us to greet guests, “host” the shower, and talk to people without worrying if we got every shot we wanted.
Step 9: Have Fun! We definitely utilized the open bar and had ourselves a night.
her being held up
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