Wedding/Bridal Shower Invitations
It’s officially the start of wedding season and my mailbox is starting to get full of invitations! Especially Save the Dates and Bridal Shower invitations. I was starting to make my bridal shower invitations last month when I was looking at other people’s bridal shower invites the I received and realized they were missing things that I would like to know as a guest.
I decided this would be a great blog post to share for anyone making a wedding/bridal shower invitation and has no idea where to start! I know it can be overwhelming from my own experience!
Here are the most important things to include in your invitation:
Is this a wedding shower or a bridal shower?
Make sure to be very clear!! Even if your invitation says “Wedding Shower” you need to disclose that it is for couples. Guests’ get in their own heads and are unsure, so just clarify somewhere on the invitation that yes, men are welcome to the event!
Who are you showering? Is it the couple or just the bride? Is it a same sex couple? Again, make sure to be very clear!
If the couple comes from a large family, I recommend including last names in the invitation to help avoid confusion.
Date, time, and location.
Seems simple enough, but you never know! Sometimes the most obvious is forgotten about!
I will say, as a guest, you will get bonus points in my book if you have a start AND end time on the invitation! I failed to do that on my bridal shower invite because we weren't sure at the time when I made it, but if you know what time your shower is ending, guests love that!
RSVP Must Do’s:
The most important thing for RSVPing is having a deadline date to RSVP by. I’ve been a wedding planner for four years now and I can honestly say when I made the invitation I forgot to put the deadline date. Again, kicking myself. Luckily, I am a crafty lady and I’ll just make a little escort/RSVP card to put in my envelope with my invitation that says the deadline date.
As a guest, RSVPing is awkward if you don’t know who you are RSVPing to or if the invite just says RSVP to “Blank” at “000-000-0000”. Am I supposed to call them? Text them? Who are they?
For mine, I gave two options! I gave my mom and my soon to be MIL so my guests can call or text whoever they feel comfortable with!
I’m truly kicking myself because I forgot to put “text or call”, but it’s really not the end of the world.
Registry Must Haves:
Make sure you actually curated a diverse registry. If you want your guests to buy from your registry, you need to give your guests options.
This means a wide variety of gift options. Don’t just have a few things on there and one website to shop from. Go crazy!!!
I sat down one day.. hit my garden pen wink wink, threw on the Real Housewives, and created my registries. I added a bunch of things to it that I wanted even if I didn’t think anyone would get it for me. It was so fun!
My best advice for picking out registry gifts is be practical, but unpractical. Pick out something you want, but you would never be able to buy yourself. I went back and did my registry list at least 5 times and thought about it from different perspectives. Think about your guests’ generations and incomes and what they can and can’t afford. I have $5 gifts and I have $500 gifts on my registry. Someone can find something they can afford!
The next best thing you can do is have your registry all in one place. If you take my advice on having a wide variety on prices and gift options for your guests to get you, you are going to have multiple registry accounts. The last thing your guests want to do is to have to look up 5 different websites.
TheKnot.com is perfect for organizing everything, especially your registry. I was able to combine all my stores and registries into one place on my wedding website so my guests can locate my multiple stores and gifts without a hassle!
Last, but not least, if you know how to, another great thing you can do is create a QR code for guests to access your registry! I was able to do this easily with qrfy.com. It costs money, but is so worth it! On my invitation I have our URL if my guests just want to type that in, but on the back I have the QR code for anyone who is lazy like me and takes you right to my registry website!
Last but not least on what to include in the shower invite is the design of the invite itself! You want the invitation design to give your guests an idea of what the event is going to be like. I included a a picture a link to mine and ones that I love on my LTK for anyone who is interested!
For my invite I was going for a vintage garden vibe! I want my guests to know that my bridal shower is going to be a garden party vibe!
You can also always point blank have that written on the invitation, as well! 2024 is all about themes and including that in the title of your shower invitation leaves no one guessing! Especially if you want your guests in a specific dress code, make sure to mention that in the invitation!!
At the end of the day, the shower is meant to be fun and to shower the bride to be! So don’t sweat it! If any of you would like me to write a blog on something you have questions about, or if you have any questions at all, leave a comment below! I love writing and helping and at the end of the day as a wedding planner, that’s what I’m here for!
This is my invitation!
If you click the photo it should take you to LTK!
Here are some options I loved, but didn’t go with!
I linked them right here if anyone is interested!
Shop these invitations here.
Shop these invites here!
