Role Bride Plays
What Role Does a Bride Play in the Bridal Shower?
Legend has it that there was once a daughter of a well-to-do Dutchman who wanted to
marry the son of a poor miller. As the story goes, the rich Dutchman told his daughter
that she could not marry the poor miller’s son. And to stress the fact of exactly how
much he was against them being together he would not allow her to claim her dowry if
she decided to marry the poor miller’s son. The local townspeople were so outraged at
the behavior of the rich father, they all pulled together and showered her with wedding
gifts and so was born the tradition of giving bridal showers.
Bridal showers are traditionally given by the maid of honor and the bridesmaids. The
bride’s role in the bridal shower is a fairly passive role as she is not expected to
participate in the planning or the actual orchestration of the bridal shower. As a matter of
fact it is considered bad etiquette for the bride to intrude in on the plans for the bridal
shower. The bridesmaids and the maid of honor are giving the bridal shower as a gift to
the bride. As far as the bride’s role in the whole affair, it is simply to arrive at the bridal
shower and graciously accept all the gifts.
There are a few things however that the bride can do to help the maid of honor and
bridesmaids. First off, the bride should just hand over their address book to the
bridesmaids so they may be able to make the guest list without having to call each
individual guest to get their mailing address. Most brides appoint their best friend as
their maid of honor, so it goes without saying that she do to your friends are and who you
would like to see at your wedding. The bride should never interfere with who gets
invited to the bridal shower, because there may be specific budget constraints which will
not allow everyone you know to be invited to the bridal shower. All in all it is the maid
of honor and the bridesmaids call on who comes to the bridal shower, so the bride will
just have to deal with the guest list as it is.
Are the most important things you can do to assist your maid of honor and bridesmaids
and their preparations and actual deployment of your bridal shower, is to keep out of their
way and offer your comments and in the only if specifically asked. Of course every
bride-to-be has opinions on how they would like to see things done, such as what type of
food is served as well as what kind of games will be played, but it is best that the bride-
to-be remained tight lipped unless she is approached by the bridesmaids or the maid of
honor and asked for her opinion.
Finally, on the day of the bridal shower it is important that you are happy with what you
have been given and that you mingle among the guests. After the event is over, the
certain to sit down and compose thank you letters to each and every one of your
bridesmaids and of course to your maid of honor. Let them know how much you
appreciate the gift of a bridal shower that they gave you so graciously from the bottom of
their hearts.
