I’ve written several blog posts about wedding invitations in the past, but I’ve never touched on other types of invitations associated with getting married – specifically, the bridal shower invitations.
Generally speaking the shower is coordinated by the maid of honor – not the bride, groom or mother of the bride – and because the maid of honor usually does not personally know all the potential attendees, sending out formal invitations is required. As such, it’s important to keep in mind that the invitations are often the first impression the guests will have about you and the shower in general, so it’s critical to get them right! What follows are 3 creative ideas to make the bridal shower invitations look as personal and elegant as possible.
Edible Invitations
One idea is to send edible invitations. Yes you heard that right – edible invites! This could encompass things like candy bars, cookies, chocolate, or anything else you can imagine (budget permitting, of course). It’s a nice touch to place a photo of the happy couple on the candy bar wrapper, or even on the cookies or candy bars themselves! And don’t worry; there are many bakeries that can do this for you. However, you probably want to avoid sending edible items in the mail if the weather is hot and humid at the time, as this will result in a certain percentage of the items melting or otherwise becoming compromised whilst in transit.
Themed Invitations
Another way to get creative with the bridal shower is to develop a theme for it, and incorporate elements of this theme into the invitations. Ideally the theme would focus on the bride’s favorite hobby, item or activity, but if this is not possible just try and be creative and develop a theme that will work well with the venue and that people will appreciate. Pretty much any stationary store would be able to customize your invitations in any way you’d like, or for the ultimate personal touch you could make the invitations yourself (assuming you’re crafty).
For example, a tropical theme would warrant having invitations shaped like coconuts or palm trees. If you have an autumn theme, the invitations could somehow incorporate leaves or acorns. If you have a beach theme, the invitations could feature seashells or beach tags.
There are many other examples I could spout off, but hopefully you get the point – create a theme for the shower and design the invites so they compliment and communicate this theme.
Online Invitations
Finally, if you’re a tree hugger like me then you might wish to forego sending paper invitations altogether and stick to an electronic format. There are plenty of services that will do this for you, from creating the design of the electronic invitation to actually sending out the emails. Typically you’d upload one or more images or photos, and then choose the fonts, colors, and background, to make the invitation as personal as possible.
Summary
In the final analysis, it’s quite a compliment to be the maid of honor, so don’t blow it by sending second-rate bridal shower invitations. Take a little time to plan things out – a little bit of planning goes a long way, trust me!
The good news is that it isn’t difficult to “wow ’em” with awesome shower invitations. Simply personalize the shower theme and the invitations based on your knowledge of the bride’s likes and preferences, and use the tips in this post to be creative. Good luck!
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