This is going to be a kinda
2-in-1 post about 2surprise bridal showers I was actively involved in planning.
I learnt a whole lot of stuff on the web which really helped in my planning, so
in the spirit of giving back I am doin this post. I hope it helps anyone
planning to surprise their engaged friend, it really is the sweetest thing when
friends to come to celebrate the graduation of one of ours from single-dom to
double-dom.lool. you all know by now that I’m a clown. Sit back and feed ur
eyes and mind and enjoy this picturesque post.
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Bride-to-be in her 'royal' accesories (2nd shower) |
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customized tee for the friends (2nd shower) |
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Lingerie Cake (2nd shower) |
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souvenirs-rose pattern compact mirror & cupcake packaged towel |
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Surprise!! moment (1st shower) |
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DIY crown and name tag on a guest in the bedroom (1st shower) |
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Finger food array (2nd shower) |
The first surprise shower I
planned was for my friend Melissa (I blogged about her proposal here), her wedding was slated for April but I wanted to start off preparations
for the bridal shower early to avoid complication, so I formed a BB group
sometime in February and added the few friends I knew who in turn added some
more from her University and Secondary school (I had met a number of them
during her traditional wedding so it was not hard to flow), we were about 20 in
total the group. I was glad discussions started early and all ‘cos I love to
plan ahead so things go accordingly, although some of her friends thought the
group was brought up too early, they eventually thanked me for starting it on
time.
Make a to-do list. Here’s mine:
- Selection of a
Venue (Park, Hall, Someone’s house, commercial apartment)
- Selection of a
Tentative Date for the Shower
- Decoration
- Minimum amount
to be contributed (usually decided after deliberations or can be before so
there is a budget to work with)
- Commencement
and Deadline for Payment
- Cake
- Food
(Preferably small chops-spring rolls, meat balls, samosa, cupcakes, doughnut,
etc.)
- Drinks (variety
of soft drinks, malt, water, juice, punch, alcohol)
- Gifts for the
Bride-to-be (Lingerie, Customized t-shirt, etc.)
- Eating Utensils
(Disposable plates, cups & cutlery, toothpicks, straws, serviettes, foil
paper, Knife for the Cake)
- Games &
Activities
- Bride-to-be’s
outfit (Crown, Sash, outfits, pins, etc.)
- Others
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Bride-to-be in customized t-shirt {front} (1st shower) |
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Bride-to-be in customized t-shirt {back}(1st shower) |
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Friends & Bride-to-be in sexy police outfit (1st shower) |
- Start Planning
Early if it is a surprise bridal shower that involves her other friends u don’t
know. Why you may ask- because decisions involving more than 3 people takes a
long time!!! talk less of 20 girls! You don’t even wanna know, and there are
soooooooo many things to decide on and we haven’t even moved on to
contributions for the event.
- Invite her
close friends into a forum and let them also branch out and invite other close
friends but remind everyone to be hush hush about it! Else they spoil the
surprise.
- Do some
research (Google is your friend, find sites with bridal shower post, games,
décor, themes, etc. It will help to have some ideas to be deliberated on)
- Will the shower
be themed or unthemed? (unthemed ones are easier)
- Welcome
opinions and deliberate respectfully and be polite (you don’t know some of
these ppl and dnt know where you may meet again. I remember a bridal shower
that went awry due to the attitude of the Coordinator-not cool* remember it is
not about you, but about creating a special memory for a friend)
- Once the major
decisions are out of the way (mainly things that have to do with costing), the
next step is to delegate (you honestly cannot do it all by yourself). Pair up at least 2 people and make them
accountable to the group, do this for all the different tasks in your to-do
list. I t is ok to be involved in some and you also have to follow up on all
the others to keep everyone on track (don’t be bossy/overbearing doing this
though, it’s easy to get carried away-try to remember that the other friends
also have their own life and schedules). One way I found easy was giving the
delegates a week or 2 to come back and report their findings to the group so
decisions can be made, and during that week, after discussions, we will gently
remind them that we would be expecting feedback on the agreed date. I helps
ease tension and burdening anyone.
- DIY (Do it
yourself) In the 1st surprise shower, I bought cardboard pieces, glue and other
materials from the market to make crowns, name tags and decorate the venue.
While in the 2ndd, one of the ladies who was into printing, made tees for us
although we paid for them, the price was very minimal. Make use of group members
to cut costs (if there’s a baker or decorator among you, make use of them to
save cost).
- Gather intel/info
on your expected audience (are most of them single ladies or is it a mix of
married women and single ladies, are they gentle or loud) this will help you in
ur selection of games and activities for the day. In the 1st surprise shower I planned,
I did not do this and the crowd was the loud kind dat mostly jst wanted to eat,
make noise and get themselves & the bride-to-be drunk. We did not play up
to half of the games but they still had fun although if I had known earlier I would
not have planned for the other games and wasted resources. The 2nd shower was the
opposite as it was made up of mostly married women. We played practically all
the games and were able to compile a book for the bride from them.
- Have someone
recording and taking pictures of the event so you can give the hubby to watch
later and enjoy and the bride-to-be can also add it to her memorabilia.
- Make a nice
playlist everyone can dance to, its usually safe to go with the songs in vogue
- You will need
someone to act as a DJ overseeing the music, another as the MC and someone
monitoring the food and drinks while u can be in charge of games and activities
so you don’t get overwhelmed trying to handle it all, this happened to me at
the 1st surprise shower but i learnt and the 2nd turned out way better.
- After the
cutting of the cake, don’t forget to divide it so everyone gets a piece to eat
and take home and also keep some for the bride-to-be to take home.
- Remember the
food (preferably small chops-) can never be too much and its beta it goes round
than for it to not. The guests can take home the leftovers of the food and
drinks.
- Most
importantly keep the shower a surprise right till the very end, don’t forget to have a believable
story to get the bride-to-be to the venue without her suspecting anything.
- And just as
important, don’t forget to have fun!!!
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