A bride and groom have so many things that they need to buy when they begin their lives together. That's of course why many people have bridal showers. But what you may not have known, is that you can have a themed bridal shower. So for the bride and groom who have lived together for a while and have kitchen supplies and have furniture and who maybe seem to have it all, maybe you should throw them a "stock the bar" shower! Here's organize it!
Instructions
1. Pick a date. A wedding has so many pieces and components, events surrounding the actual wedding can be tricky to plan. The best thing to do if you are organizing a stock the bar shower is to talk to the maid of honor, or mother of the bride on what they think will be some days that work for throwing the shower. (This assumes that the shower is a surprise, if it's not however, then just ask the bride). Make sure your day is away from dress fittings, vendor meetings or other bridal tasks. Once you have all of the appropriate information, select a date!
2. Find a venue. This can be at someone's home or even a local restaurant. Really there are no rules on where to have the shower. Just some place that's big enough to accommodate everyone, and that seems fun and festive. If the bride has a favorite restaurant, consider going there, or ordering her favorite food from there!
3. Make a list of invites! When organizing a stock the bar shower it's always better to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Contact the maid of honor, the bride's parents and other friends, family and coworkers you think should be invited. Be sure to ask each one if there is someone that they feel is missing off of your tentative list. Once you feel you have a complete list move to the next step.
4. Send out the invites! Stores like Papyrus, or Paper Source are high end boutiques which offer the finest invitations. You can even buy the materials and make them yourselves! Other stores like Hallmark offer great pre-packaged invites. And of course there is evite.com which is the primary site for sending invites to people via the web. The advantage is that they are free! Also be sure when you send out the invites you organize who is bringing what. You don't want the stock the bar shower to end with the bride having 15 bottle openers. Assign people something to bring and spread it out evenly amongst the guests. General items that should be purchased are barware, such as glasses, openers and shakers and also alcohol. Make sure people are donating an array of white wine, red wine, vodka, rum, scotch, whiskey, beer and other bar items the bride or groom fancy.
5. Decide decor. This is of course an optional step and depends on the location of the shower. But flowers and pictures of the happy couple scattered around are always a nice touch. The important thing is that the location seems organized, festive and fun!
6. Follow-up! A couple days before the shower, send a reminder via email to all the attendees reminding them of the shower. Also remind each person what they are supposed to bring. Follow-up with the food vendor as well if the shower is being held someplace other than a restaurant. Reconfirm the order and time the good can be picked-up. Then sit back and enjoy! Congratulations, you have learned organize a stock the bar party!
Tags: bride groom, that they, bride groom have, groom have, maid honor