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Matron of Honor in need of help please!
So, my cousin is getting married September 9 (Just got engaged, and he's going into the military). She has asked me to be her matron of honor and our other cousin to be her maid of honor. We're trying to plan her shower for the middle of July (Yes I know that's quick, but that's when all of the family will be in from out of town for a family reunion anyway so it makes the most sense). So, I need some help!
I've never planned a bridal shower before, and the maid of honor hasn't even been in a wedding before (she's 20). My mom is going to help me, as well as the rest of the wedding party, but I don't even know where to start. It's going to be at my aunt's house, and there will be about 75 ladies there (due to time constraints, we're combining it with his family's shower too).
Thanks for any help/advice you can give.
ETA: My aunt's house has a huge yard and a family friend has a large tent white they are going to let us use to create a nice space.
Re: Matron of Honor in need of help please!
Well first start thinking what time of day you want the event, that will help you narrow down your menu options.
Since it will be at a family house, you'll either be cooking everything, getting it catered, or potluck. Do you have an idea of how much you wanted to spend?
The general format of a typical bridal shower is everyone migles when they arrive (if its a brunch serve mimosas or another appropriate morning drink) and then once all the guests are there you can open the buffet for eating.
Its typical to have little games or activities planned as well, and of course...opening gifts.
You can also theme the entire event...is there something the bride is into or really likes?
But your first course of action should be setting the budget, picking the day, then picking the time of time to help you get some direction....
The first thing I would do is get the invitations out ASAP. People make summer plans far in advance, so you'll want people to be able to reserve that day.
Then, plan food. With that many people, you'll want to make it easy. I'd recommend planning it for a non-meal time to save on money. I have no idea what your budget is like, but 75 people is a lot of mouths to feed. If you do 2pm-4pm, you could just serve snacks, cake, lemonade, iced tea (I assume no alcohol since the bride is 20).
Don't worry about a theme or decorations. You can pick up a few bouquets of flowers from the grocery store and put them in vases.
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I would just google 'party planning guide'. It will come back with all kinds of planners to keep you on track.
You have the location and date/time, so you're off to a good start. You need to decide on the menu/beverages (and don't forget the cake), any games you want to play, theme/decorations (any bridal shower I hosted kind of followed the wedding colors and theme), invitations and postage, finalize the guest list, chair/table rental. Don't forget a corsage for the bride. Try to keep a list of any vendors you will be using handy.
For the food, it depends on what you want. Some people like to have full course meals prepared. In my family, we would always have like an entree', finger foods, fruit/veggie trays, chips and dips, etc. and people would serve themselves and mingle while eating - not a formal sit-down type of thing. And don't forget the paper plates, cups, plastic flatware, ice, etc.
Don't stress too much over it. As long as you have food, people will be happy
If you have people helping you, feel free to delegate: it comes with them offering to help. Just have fun with it!
I really like this method. Also, with 75 women, I wouldn't try to play games or do a "everybody come over here and watch Jill open gifts." That's way too big of a group to try to organize, not everyone wants to play games, and there's no way 75 people can all see what Jill's opening.
And as the resident anti-theme EI poster, I love just going simple with grocery store flowers
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Just some advice: something that you need to be clear on is: are people contributing cash or a cheese tray.
I would advise setting up an excel sheet, with a list of who's "contributing" what so you can keep track of costs and avoid duplicate chocolate cookies, etc.
If you're family does this all the time, you should be all set with the food and drinks. To make it a little more shower special - I would suggest having a few extra touches.
*For example, at my BFFs shower, we did a champagne bar. Have some bottles of bubbly (and cider for the underage and preggers) and have OJ, pomegranate juice and strawberries for guests to add to their drinks.
*Maybe you can have a large framed photo of the bride and groom.
*An area with blank note cards and pens next to a basket, where ladies can write words of wisdom to the bride. (If you'd like, you can make this a raffle by having the bride pull a card out, read it aloud and the winner gets a small prize.)
*Try to have someone as the designated photograher to capture the memories.
*Instead of a traditional cake, I like the idea of a dessert buffet - with cookies, brownies, cupcakes. Since it sounds like a lot of people might be bringing things, this might be an easier route than one large cake.
HTH!
That's also an awesome idea to keep track for thank you notes, so thank you! I mean thank you notes to the people who helped with the food. Of course, we'll keep a list for presents, but that way we can be sure and thank those who helped with the food too.
You've got the date and place, now pick a time of day- brunch, lunch, cake and punch mid-afternoon, tea. Once you decide on time you can get some invites out then start getting a menu together.
75 is a lot of people so I wouldn't try to open gifts or play games. I like the idea of giving advice. You could read them out and have random ones win a door prize, maybe the centerpieces.
I'm a simple one on decor too. Borrow/rent/buy some white table clothes and get some colorful flowers. Since there will be a lot of tables you could do some tables with flowers and some with candles or fruit. Or you could borrow cake servers (pedestal servers with the domed lids) and put desserts in the center of the tables.