When your mom got married, her bridal shower was likely hosted by her maid of honor and was attended by a group of her closest female friends in the living room of the hostess’s home. Times have definitely changed.
While it’s still perfectly acceptable to host or attend a bridal shower like the one that honored your mom many years ago, modern-day showers tend to be quite different than they were back in the 1970s and 80s.
Here are four ways bridal showers have changed over time.
1. Destination Showers are Now a Thing
Traditionally, bridal showers have typically been held at someone’s home or a favorite restaurant. Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to host a destination shower. For instance, if the bride loves the beach, it can be held in an oceanside community, or you can plan a wine tasting at vineyards in your state.
Additionally, you can also figuratively kill two birds with one stone and combine the destination bridal shower with a bachelorette party, which is also something that bridal showers of yore would have never done.
2. Family Members Can Now Host the Shower
For decades, it has been taboo for the bride-to-be’s family members to host the bridal shower. In most cases, the bridesmaids have been tasked with organizing the party, because if the family decided to play host, it was viewed as a greedy gift grab.
Today, however, close friends, the future mother-in-law, the bride’s sisters, her co-workers and pretty much anyone who wishes to host the bridal shower is welcome to do so. The only caveat is that the bride should not host her own shower, but other than that, anyone can and should go for it.
3. Dudes Can Be Part of the Fun
Back in the day, bridal showers were strictly women-only. Nowadays, though, it’s more common and definitely acceptable to host a coed shower that honors both the bride and the groom. In fact, co-ed showers often have an entertaining theme that centers around the couple and their interests.
For instance, if they met at a football game, it can be sports-themed, or if they love to cook it can be a BBQ party, where everyone pitches in and brings a tasty dish to share.
4. It’s Okay to Add Registry Information to the Invite
It’s now definitely acceptable — and helpful — to include where the bride and groom are registered on the invitation. As you design a bridal shower invitation to send out to guests, at the very bottom of the card you can say where you’re registered.
Although old-fashioned etiquette may argue that it’s in poor taste to include this sort of information, the fact is that most everyone will want to bring a gift, and knowing where the couple is registered is seen as helpful and welcome information. Plus, for the person or people hosting the bridal shower, including registry information will prevent them from having to answer dozens of calls and emails from guests asking what to get them.
Showers Still Share One Thing in Common
No matter where a bridal shower is held, who hosts it and who attends, they will still share one key thing in common: celebrating the love of a couple. If you keep this wonderful fact in mind, it’s much easier to remember that bowing to tradition is not as important as honoring a bride-to-be (and possibly her groom, too) with a joyful party.
