Frequently Asked Questions

Common challenges in planning bridal showers and bachelorette parties

Moving a Party to a Virtual Environment

I highly recommend listening to the episodes of Priya Parker's podcast, Together Apart, dated April 15, 2020 (Birthdays: Light At The Middle Of The Tunnel) and May 6, 2020 (Saving The Date: Weddings in Quarantine) if you're looking for some inspiration. She makes the concept of virtual event planning feel much more approachable, and highly focused on the guest of honor. Admittedly, those things are pretty elaborate (but super fun to listen to) - if you're looking for something more simple, the things I've seen work really well are keeping it to only an hour, allowing people to introduce themselves and how they know the guest of honor so that everyone gets a chance to talk at least once and to make use of breakout rooms (I've seen it done where people pre-assign so that certain groups of people who know each other all end up together so it feels less awkward and more like a catch-up.) 

Games like the Bridal Shower Question Card Game and Bridal Shower Jeopardy translate very well to virtual - and I’ve even played a virtual game where each attendee is on video and grabs two post-its. They write one name of each member of the couple on each post-it and then the event facilitator asks questions about which member of the couple they think did certain things (said I love you first, is the better morning person, is the better dancer, etc). Everyone on the call can guess by holding up a post-it with the name of the person on it, cross-referencing to the actual couple’s answers - it’s a great use of the video functionality on a virtual call.

Planning Shower Games

Shower games are huge part of the planning! My favorite games so far have been the Bridal Shower Question Card Game and the What's in my Purse Game. They both seem to be interactive and fast-paced enough to hold people's attention. I also always love giving the guest of honor an opportunity to share their "how they met" story because it's super possible that some people might not know the answer to that. 

Meeting the In-Laws

Oof - yeah, the in-laws not knowing you is definitely a tricky thing right now. I've been engaged for 8-months at this point and feel super weird about the fact that our parents haven't met each other - they're from two different states three hours away and have been significantly different mentalities when it comes to the pandemic. Have you considered doing an in-law introduction ahead of the bridal shower? That could make for a much easier transition into talking about a bridal shower.

Also - here's a newsletter I received from Priya Parker last week (I say that like I know her, I don't, she just wrote a great book that I love called The Art of Gathering) - it actually addresses the never having met the in-laws thing super creatively. Even if you don't go that same route, it might spark some ideas!