shower post-mortem

Yesterday was my future sister-in-law's Bridal Shower and while she wasn't quite surprised, she did seem to have a great time. Everything turned out just the way we planned; the food was delicious, the games were entertaining, the centerpieces were beautiful and the bride was blushing!

So after organizing my first bridal shower, what did I learn?

• It takes a bridal party to plan a shower. The Mother of the Bride or the Maid of Honor would go crazy if she had no help from the bridal party. Between wrapping favors and managing the RSVPs, the entire bridal party remained involved. I keep reminding Momzilla that as much as she loves party planning, she won't be able to do it alone. She'll need to consult with the bridesmaids on advice, opinions and just plain old labor. And while my bridesmaids are all good friends, that isn't the case with every bridal party. Sidenote: Planning the shower may also give the girls a chance to bond before the big day.
• Sweat the small stuff. While you shouldn't agonize over the tiniest detail, it's important to keep organized because there are so many little things involved with a shower. Parties in general require attention to detail but bridal and baby showers tend to follow a "schedule" of serving food, playing games and opening presents. We had to remember a poem for the Wishing Well, garbage bag for the wrapping paper and pens for the games. Good thing there were so many of us or else I'm sure we would have forgotten something!
• Wear a watch. I'm sure most bridal showers experience the same "mistakes" of spending too much time on silly things and not enough time on the important things. In retrospect, we waited too long to bring the bride to the party (partly my fault!) and we didn't give ourselves the time we needed to open her presents. And while most guests hate sitting through hours of unwrapping, it's nice to be able to spend the time thanking each guest after opening the present. Otherwise, you're being rushed through the entire thing!
• Bring sexy back! Okay, maybe this doesn't apply to ALL showers but I was certainly surprised by the fun reaction to all the lingerie she got. We had hung up a clothesline and pinned on lots of sexy panties for her to keep; we even displayed one of her fiance's boxer shorts! And although I was a little nervous about my future family's reaction, I had no need to be. They played right along and even gave a couple of naughty contributions themselves (one of her grandmother's friend's gave her a sexy nurse's uniform!).
  
  

I'm sure there are lots of other lessons I learned but for the sake of this entry, I decided to keep it short. In the next one, I'll show all the creative things we made for the shower in case you want some inspiration.

In the meantime, do you have any other thoughts or advice for planning a shower? I have to plan at least two more next year so any words of wisdom would be appreciated!