Etiquette For Your Wedding Shower Reception - Proper Way to Attend Wedding Shower If Not Invited to Wedding

When you begin planning your wedding, you will discover that there are a set of etiquette rules for each event prior to the actual wedding ceremony. Wedding shower etiquette is just one example. The etiquette for a wedding shower shows who is supposed to host your shower, what individuals should be invited and when it should take place.

The etiquette for a wedding shower dictates that the mother or sisters of the bride are not permitted to host the shower. This etiquette rule is broken quite a bit in the South. Even so, the correct people to host your wedding shower should be your bridesmaids. This does not mean that other close friends of the bride can't host the shower. Often there are various wedding showers for different groups that do not know each other but they know the bride to be.

Your wedding shower should be planned about four to eight weeks prior to the wedding.

This time frame will depend on if some guests have to come a distance and if the bride will be available. If the shower is planned too close to the day of the wedding it will interfere with other wedding plans and this will stress out the bride and she will not have a good time at the shower. This is definitely improper etiquette.

If your bridesmaids are the hosts for the wedding shower, etiquette suggests the people that should be invited to the shower. Obviously, the mothers of the bride and groom should be there. If there are stepmothers in the families they should be invited too. If the bride or groom has sisters, they should be invited as well. Other family members, friends and co-workers can also be invited. Individuals who are not invited to the wedding should not be invited to the shower.

Proper etiquette states that thank you notes should be written right away after the bridal shower. The purpose of the wedding shower is to give the bride gifts that will help her celebrate. The hostesses should keep an account of who brought each gift so that the bride can send out thank you notes quickly and show how much she appreciates each of the gifts.

Invitations to the wedding shower should be addressed in the same way as the wedding invitations. Etiquette dictates that each invitation should be addressed by hand and the formal format should be used. Each shower guest should get their own invitation even if they live with another person that is also invited to the shower.

An example of this would be a mother and daughter that live in the same residence. Shower invitations should arrive at your guests homes about four weeks prior to the event and the invitations should include a response card so that the guests can RSVP. An invitation can include bridal registry information since you cannot put this information on the wedding invitation. Gifts are expected at a bridal shower so you are using the correct bridal shower etiquette by including the registry information on the invitation.