Category: Bridal Showers

Think outside the wedding shower box with these unique ideas to celebrate the bride and groom’s big day.

I was both maid of honor and wedding coordinator when my sister got married last year. Because so many of the guests were coming from out of town, we decided to combine the bachelorette party and bridal shower into one fun-filled weekend to save on travel time and ensure that everyone could attend.

Okay, gals&mdashthis is just too cute! A fun way to make your engagement announcements, save the date cards, wedding invitations and thank-you cards more personal: Create your own stamps!

My mother, a true Anglophile, brought me up surrounded by more than a few of her favorite British things. The first real, hearty books I read as a child were Agatha Christie mysteries and Charles Dickens novels. Every Thursday was Masterpiece Theatre night featuring an array of her favorite actors from the UK, and I was probably the only 12-year-old kid in school who (at the time, don’t quiz me now) knew the entire history of the English Royal Family.

We recently held our annual off-site 3-day planning meeting at Woods Hole—a private home right on Pebble Beach Golf Course—and it’s a wonder we got anything done. Lounging around on comfy couches and chairs, we had the perfect seats from which to ogle the mesmerizing view through a wall of glass: verdant blufftop fairways giving way to a sapphire-blue sea and cloudless sky. You try focusing on a 10-page to-do list with that gorgeous panorama constantly tugging at your peripheral vision!

Even though I’m usually a total foodie, I have a not-so-secret addiction to doughnuts. I have doughnut magnets on my fridge. I call my cat “Alice Donut” as a nickname. I know every doughnut shop within a five mile radius of my apartment.

Many a bride-to-be has looked forward to her bachelorette party with (almost) as much excitement as the wedding day itself, so why rush the fun? To properly blow off some pre-wedding steam, consider making your bachelorette party a destination getaway.

When I was planning my sister’s bridal shower, I knew I wanted to make centerpieces that were more fun and unique than the obvious vases of flowers. My inspiration came when I went to pick up the dessert I had ordered for the shower. While I was at the shop, it dawned on me that those 3 dozen delicious cupcakes from Icing on the Cupcake in Rocklin would make whimsical centerpieces for the party. This was also a budget-friendly idea, since my dessert was going to double as décor!

I recently went to an event billed as a “scintillating evening of fun and information, focused on the Bay Area Indian wedding market.” Well, it was all that and more. Afterwards, I wanted throw my own Indian bash. I wanted to be Indian.