Surprise Bridal Shower Checklist

Hi everyone! 

Last weekend, I had my best friend’s surprise bridal shower. This is something personal, but it was so much fun that I want to share it with you all! My goal was to let the bride relax from her hectic schedule as the wedding approaches, and possibly to make her cry happy tears. *evil laugh*

As I mentioned before, I had no idea what a Maid of Honor really does. After careful planning and with the help of the bridesmaids, we pulled off an amazing surprise bachelorette party! (Did I mention bachelorette party and bridal shower are synonymous terms in my head?)

Let me share how we did it.

Surprise Bridal Shower Planning Checklist:

Inform the groom.

I thought it was a good idea to have the groom on the loop. His role was to make sure that the bride would be available on the set date. He also gave valuable information on what the bride is up to, for our plans to go smoothly. After a thorough conversation about the bride’s schedule, we decided that I was going to ask her out for dinner and a sleepover at my place (but will tell her I need to drop by a nearby apartment to get something real quick, then SURPRISE!!!)

Invite the guests.

It was going to be difficult to prepare for a grand bridal shower, so I decided that an intimate night with the bridesmaids was the way to go.This was a really tricky one. The bridesmaids and I didn’t know each other because the bride knew us from different phases in her life. Since the bride already gave me the entourage, my only option was to look them up on Facebook.

I sent each of them a personal message, asking if they would be interested to plan a surprise party. Fortunately, each girl was very happy to be a part of it.

I then created a group chat for everyone to start the planning.

Choose a theme.

It’s good to know what the bride would like for the theme to be. It could also be something related to the theme of the actual wedding. If you’re aiming for awesome, you should really check out these bridal shower ideas. With our busy schedules, we decided on a simple theme based on the bride’s favorite color: violet.

Set the venue.

This depends on what kind of party you’re having. You can do it in a loved one’s home (make sure to give them a complimentary gift) or rent a place. Since ours was a cozy overnight party, renting a room was the best option.

The bridesmaids live in different cities, and we chose a location that was very near the bride’s office (so it was easier to invite her over). Airbnb really came in handy with this.

Assign tasks.

Doing everything yourself could get stressful. It’s better to assign tasks to the bridesmaids, so everyone can feel like they have contributed to the party. This also helped us in having more engaging conversations as we discussed things like decorations, attire, food, activities. On the day itself, everyone had fun decorating and preparing everything. It’s a win-win-win!

Prepare activities.

You can have simple games, and make sure to prepare food to eat. You may also share memories with the bride, and have a toast.

We had a simple getting to know each other activity as an ice breaker, and Q & A. First, the host of the activity asked us all a question about the bride’s likes, favorites, and trivia. The first one to answer correctly wins. After that, the bridesmaids asked the bride questions like how she views marriage or what are her expectations and plans after the wedding.

I also came prepared with some movies about weddings, and they chose to watch “27 Dresses” before we drifted off to sleep.

And… that’s it! We had an awesome and fun-filled party! It wasn’t expensive, but the experience we had is priceless. You can’t imagine the anxiety I had worrying if the bride will find out what we were planning, but she was dead on speechless! Plus, she cried tears of joy seeing her special girls all in one place.

Everyone had a night they will never forget. Mission accomplished. 🙂

P.S.

I don’t want to get too emotional seeing my best friend since childhood getting married, but let me warn you… I’ll probably have a post-wedding update for you guys. ❤