Anyone who isn't the mother or sister of the bride. Because the point of a shower is to "shower" the bride with gifts, it is inappropriate for a very close relative to host it. The bridesmaids often host a shower. It is important, when inviting people to a shower, to make sure only to invite people who are also going to be invited to the wedding. Remember, the purpose of a shower is to give gifts, and it is rude to expect someone to give a gift if they aren't important enough to be invited to the wedding.
No. A work-related shower can be given by people and have guests who are not invited to the wedding. The same would be true of a shower given by members of a club the bride belongs to and other similar "special group" showers.
Yes, because showers exist for the purpose of giving gifts. However, common sense is a good idea here; if you're planning a shower where you expect people to bring a small gift like a rubber spatula and a recipe card, you probably don't want to include the registry information!
There are any number of possible shower themes. Some examples are a recipe shower, a lingerie shower, a kitchen shower, an "around the clock" shower (where each guest is told to bring a gift that could be used at a specific time of day), a bath shower, a hardware shower, and a stationery shower.
It is not necessary to have a shower theme.
Yes. Some people are finding that it is more congenial to have a co-ed shower, particularly when the couple have many of the same friends of both genders. In this case, one usually invites both the bride and groom to attend (or plans it as a surprise for both the bride and groom).
The contents of this document are copyright 2004 Sonja Kueppers. Do not use without permission.
Last Modified: May 15, 2004
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