Things to know before inviting people to a wedding shower

A wedding shower, is a gift giving party where a bride is given gifts before her wedding. Primarily followed in North America it is organized by the bridesmaids and the gifts are generally for the couples home. In earlier times when the father of the bride refused or could not pay dowry the brides friends were sent wedding shower invitations to gather gifts and from this the tradition the concept of a wedding shower grew. A wedding shower is also thrown to honor the start of a new household by the bride and to give gifts which support her in the same.
The maid of honor is generally required to host the shower and send out the wedding shower invitations. Though if the maid of honor is a part of the brides immediate family she generally does not host the wedding shower. Tradition followed is to organize the wedding shower around 4 to 6 weeks before the actual wedding takes place. For convenience of the outstation guests a bridal shower should be conducted close to the wedding. The brides maid or the couple if involved in the organizing decides the number of wedding shower invitations to be sent and which relatives need to be invited to a wedding shower.
Firstly to start invitations you require a guest list which can be arranged from the bride, but if it is a surprise the same should be arranged from the mother or fiance. Generally to avoid awkward situations it is preferred if the people called to the bridal shower are also called to the wedding. An invite should be sent around 4 weeks before the shower, thus there is enough time to keep calendar empty and it is not so far off that someone would forget accidentally.
If you are considering a themed bridal shower then it is preferred if special instructions for the same are sent with the wedding shower invitation. Directions to the shower and contact numbers are generally provided in the wedding shower invitation for an additional information which is required. Generally people known personally to the bride are invited to the wedding shower.
Unless it is a couples shower where one invite per couple will suffice it is a custom to send one invite per person. If there is more than one wedding shower organized, avoid inviting the same person again who will be burdened with arranging another gift. The invites can be sent by the mail, over the phone or can be given in person as well.
Though a personal touch to invites such as hand written invites is considered charming, generally to avoid confusion and for the convenience of the host professional help is available for wedding shower invites. Professionals in this field are responsible for the whole process of inviting right from the designing the wedding shower invitation to the distribution.
It is imperative that a bride send "thank you" cards to all the guests who attended the bridal shower before the wedding. As the card is sent before the wedding stationary with the brides maiden name should be used as the stationary with the brides married name is used only after the wedding.

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