Where to Have a Bridal Shower When You Don’t Live Close to Home

Source: Martha Stewart Weddings

Choosing where your bridal shower should take place seems like a straightforward decision if you live close to all your friends and family. But if you’re like many modern women, you may have moved away from your hometown, or else have a guest list that spans across various cities, states, and even countries. While some brides opt to hold off until the week of the wedding to get everyone together, others may be fortunate enough to have friends in different regions throw pop-up parties. Whatever your preference, here’s how to decide where your bridal shower should be held.

Remember you’re not hosting.

Bridal showers are typically hosted by family members or close friends. While you may have an idea of how you’d like to plan your bridal shower, you’ll have to lean a bit on your hosts to determine what’s feasible. If your host or hosts are considering multiple showers, it may be helpful to put them in touch with one another so they can coordinate event dates and themes.

Split your guest list into regions.

Take a thorough look through your potential guest list to see if it makes sense to have multiple bridal showers. You might have a friend who lives nearby who’d like to host a local shower, while your sister might want to host a shower closer to where your family lives. Your fiancé’s family may also want to host a bridal shower for their side of the family in yet another region. With each of these hosts, it’s important to be candid about your guest list for each occasion, as some may be quite small gatherings if you split up the parties into regional groups.

Go easy on the invitations.

It’s not necessary to invite everyone to all of your bridal showers if you’re having more than one. Go ahead and invite the mothers and the bridal party to each shower, but let them know you don’t expect their attendance at all events and you certainly don’t expect multiple gifts.

Consider hosting your shower the week of the wedding.

If planning multiple bridal showers seems like too much effort, you could plan one event when everyone is in town for the wedding. This gives you a chance to catch up with everyone in person when they’re already in town for your wedding. It’s a good go-to if the bridal shower plans just aren’t panning out in a way that works for everyone.