Forget the games, today?s bridal showers are breaking all the rules
Posted by sanny111 on July 28th, 2014
You might be wearing mom’s dress and grandma’s gold earrings on your wedding day, but when it comes to your bridal shower, there’s more freedom to forget something old and borrowed, and take a chance on something new. As the standards of etiquette have loosened, bridal showers have become the casual cousin of the nuptial ceremonies: not as straight-laced as the wedding but a tad more refined than the bachelorette party. Hence, brides and her friends are now opting for destination showers, where they ditch the standard banquet hall or night club for, say, a day at a spa. Destination showers can also be a limousine ride up to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., for a day of wine tasting; or a weekend at a casino resort in Niagara Falls (either side of the border).The idea is to bring the bride’s gal pals together to celebrate her upcoming nuptials, but not have the focus be only on her. With these new kinds of bridal showers, guests are far too busy enjoying themselves to miss the traditional shower games.“It’s definitely more of a social event than just playing ‘Name the States’ or ‘Name the Capitals,’ ” said Kevin McPartlan, president of the Fairdale Banquet Center in Amherst. Theme showers (like a kitchen party that outfits the bride with pots and pans for her ‘new’ home) have been upgraded to include a hands-on lesson from a local chef on how to prepare appetizers, which provide a tasty party favor. If flowers are a big focus of the wedding — the bride’s favorite white lily is on every invitation, every table, and in every bouquet — consider having a florist show the bridal party how to make easy flower arrangements at the shower. Or, get a little funky. Dawn Schregel, owner and wedding planner at Distinctive Occasions LLC in Amherst, had a client book a psychic to do readings at a recent shower.“A lot of people don’t really like traditional bridal shower games,” Schregel reiterated. “Some guests dread going to showers, so this is a good way to do an activity that everyone might be interested in.”In the interest of including everyone, some showers are doing away with the “No Boys Allowed” rule, and letting the men in. No, not the men with the tiny black bowties and the easily-removable shirts (they’re still at the bachelorette party). These are couple-showers, which include the groom. “It’s a good way to showcase you as a couple. Rather than it being all about the bride, it’s more about the couple and the relationship,” Schregel explained. “It’s a good way to involve the groom and his individual tastes” beyond a brief appearance to carry the gifts to the car when the shower is over.While bridal shower gifts traditionally focus on the bride’s tastes — the china she picked out for her dining room, the Egyptian-cotton sheets for the bed — having a groom at the party makes the gift registry a little more diverse. “Couple showers are always fun,” says Sally Pouthier, owner of Exquisite Design, a wedding and party planning company in East Aurora. “They’ll register at Target and the groom will want extension cords or household things for the garage.”
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