EVENT - TOP 7 TIPS TO PLAN A COLOURFUL BRIDAL SHOWER ON A BUDGET.

Hi people! Happy New week, So as one gets older, let's say early 20's, the more bridal showers/ Bachelorette eve we attend as ladies. So lately I have been Attending, Organizing and Anchoring lots of Bridal showers *I can be your MC*.
 I am still yet to get the difference between a Bridal shower, A hen party or a Bachelorette eve. Some ladies celebrate in different ways, such as; the bride to be taking her friends out on a spa or dinner date, most of the times, its always a surprise party by the bride's friends to have dirty little fun together as singles before she says "I DO"

I will like to share with you all top 5 tips that works for me when planning a bridal shower especially if its a surprise one. If you are a close friend or sister of the bride to be , and you are looking to plan a surprise bridal shower for her, here are tips to follow :

• Get the contacts of ONLY her close friends, cousins and probably brides maids: After the proposal, since it's a surprise shower, get the contacts of her close friends and guest without her knowledge, usually 10 - 15 close friends and relatives. If the bride to be always put a code on her phone, then you can go through her social media handles(facebook) to get contacts of her close friends, setup a medium of communication such as whatsapp, email or BBM, there you all can plan how to trick her to the venue.

• Draw a budget plan: After getting the contacts of about 10 - 15 close friends, they can be assigned roles(anchoring the event, hosting the event, decorating the venue, getting the gifts, or sponsoring any segment of the occasion) friends can contribute a token so as to fund the Bridal Shower.

• Get a very nice venue: Venue is key! you can rent a lounge, a garden space, the home of any of the friends, close relative or plan a Spa day out.

• Choose a convenient date and time: I rather prefer a week to the wedding day, that way close friends and relatives of the bride, knowing the date of her wedding, will be around and in the celebration mood. Evening time is always best, because the weather is cool at that time. The shower can be an hour short.

• Gift and Food: The friends of the bride to be can decide to buy the bride a very nice but feminine gift which will be beneficial to her in her new home. Finger foods, cupcakes and a few bottles of wine or fruit drinks can serve, don t leave out the main cake  

• Choose a theme: this can be done through the dress code, decoration and costume. When choosing a dress code / costume, you can choose a movie theme (Pocohunters, sex and the city, cinderella etc) more like a princess theme, a vintage theme, lingerie theme OR the friends of the bride can decide to wear a particular uniform colour and a face mask, while the bride wears a different colour with her sash that reads "bride to be" and her crown.  In decoration, a simple decoration such as a wall banner with any theme, balloons, ribbons, facemask, and beautiful decoratives should be considered. when decorating, colours and settings are very essential, you can go for blue, pink, white or purple. You can have a round table or a common space for games to be played.

• Plan your Games, Photos and Make a Video: Games are very essential part of a bridal shower, in another post, I will share with you all types of bridal shower games you can play. You can assign people to snap pictures with their phones, camera, or set up a tripod and a timer on your phone or camera, then capture the event 

I and some of my school mates from way back University, planned and executed a bridal shower that took place two nights ago, It wasn't the most glamorous Bachelorette eve I have attended, you know how lagos can be with traffic, busy 9am - 5pm ladies, its not just easy to get people together, no decoration, especially after parting ways for 4 years, thanks to SOCIAL MEDIA, we still keep in touch. It was the funniest and about the sweetest bridal shower, it was more like a REUNION than a Bridal shower. I didn't take my time to organize this (Health Issues) but I did a good MC job and dress code of the day decision, to think we planned this on watsapp from different states, its was a good one.

PICTURE CREDIT:

My Nokia Lumia 1520

Internet Pictures.