Walking down the aisle, exchanging wedding vows, saying "I do," then dancing and eating, and mingling with all of the guests is the easy part.
Everything that comes before that...
well, those are the really big to-do things.
The couple "to-be" is given engagement party; there's a dinner run-through; and then you get married - ceremony, reception, and the dream takes on a life of its own.
The bride is on a ferris wheel of parties, but the one party that is solely for her - the one where she can kick off her shoes and relax - is her bridal shower.
It's an all "girls" get together, and its significance is highlighted by the wedding favors that are given.
It's her day for all the girls to indulge in fun, game playing, sharing lots of laughs, and shower favor mementos.
Shower favors can actually play into your shower's theme.
Traditional favors are always an option: nick-knacks, or maybe small picture frames.
Go beyond "traditional," and your potential choice of favors increases.
Fashionable favors include: indoor plants, or if the couple has a house, flowers blossoming every year are a particularly welcomed reminder and lovely sight to see in one's garden.
A cocktail party is a different theme for entertainment.
Guests can bring various hors d'eouvres and accompanying recipes and/or a nice bottle of wine.
Perhaps the couple-to-be are animal lovers, so guests can bring small crystal or hand carved animal miniatures.
There are bound to be a myriad of thematic ideas among the bride's girlfriends - they just have to decide which one or mixture to choose.
The party has to bounce: that comes with the fun and games.
What might be really nice is to have prize favors for the girls that are token reminders of the game itself.
For instance, if you play a game where each guest has to be a "would-be bar-tender" and create their own drink, the best "bar-tender" could win a few airline-type bottles of scotch, vodka etc.
Another possible game could be finding a picture of a bridal bouquet tucked away somewhere in the room: the prize could be a small but lovely arrangement, bridal bouquet style, of silk flowers.
Maybe the girls would enjoy a guessing game whereby they would each guess how many duplicate wedding gifts the bride had received and the one who won would get a toy duplicate of one of the gifts.
Designing a wedding dress is an enjoyable game as well.
The girls do pin-up drawings of a wedding dress on wrapping paper tissue and parade them around.
The winner is decided on by vote and she wins a lipstick or some other type of cosmetic.
The bridal shower is a gathering of close, good, friends: a sentimental journey of friendship from the past into the future: a time for lots of laughs, hugs, kisses, and tears: a time that only girls truly understand and one that should be especially memorable for each one.