Bridal Shower Decoration Ideas: The Ultimate Guide to Planning a Memorable Party

Planning a bridal shower is a big job and a significant honor. It’s an opportunity to show your support for the bride and her soon-to-be spouse as they begin a new chapter in their lives. But even if you’ve organized large parties before, taking care of all the bridal shower details can be intimidating. First, you need some great bridal shower decoration ideas and a team to help you realize your vision.

Bridal Shower Decoration Ideas

Once upon a time, the ideal shower decorations focused on expensive floral arrangements. Of course, fresh seasonal flowers are never out of style, but today'scdecorations include unique elements that help set the tone of the celebration. Do you want the shower to be formal or casual? Does the bride prefer the event to complement the color scheme of the wedding, or does she want it to be completely different?

Maybe the bride has no opinion and is happy to leave the details to the friends and family members planning the shower. In all cases, settling on a bridal shower theme is the first step. Once you determine that, you and your planning crew can start thinking about details like centerpieces and table decorations. Of course, you can’t forget the perfect bridal shower backdrop for those Insta-worthy pictures.

Choosing a Bridal Shower Theme

The traditional theme for a bridal shower is simple. Bridal showers were once an opportunity for friends and family members to “shower” a woman with gifts so she could set up a new household with her husband after marriage.

However, most people today are not leaving their childhood home and going directly into marriage. In the last 60 years, the average age for a woman to marry increased from 20 years old to 28 years old. As a result, most women and their fiancés have already lived on their own long enough to accumulate all the necessary household goods. Many people have already established a home together before marriage.

Even so, the tradition of helping the new couple is still significant. Practical needs may change over the years, but a bridal shower is still a thoughtful way for the couple’s closest loved ones to show their support. Selecting a theme will help ensure the event looks cohesive and well thought-out, no matter how traditional or nontraditional the bride is.

Consider the following bridal shower themes to jumpstart your creativity.

Garden Party

There’s nothing like a beautiful garden party to set the tone for a celebration. Hold the bridal shower in a beautiful, established garden, and you’ll have a gorgeous setting as the backdrop. The party can be elegant with silver place settings on linen tablecloths or casual fun with croquet competitions and strings of paper lanterns hanging from the trees.

Depending on the style of your garden party, you could hire a harpist or classical trio to provide background music or go with an acoustic guitarist to play a selection of love songs.

No matter what time of year, it’s always a good idea to have a back up plan when organizing an outdoor party. Selecting a venue with indoor facilities is wise in case of rain. Fill a decorative basket with warm pashminas handy for guests to wear after the sun goes down.

Fun Fiesta

A lively fiesta is a perfect match for a spirited bride. Bright colors, margaritas, and a festive taco bar will provide plenty of spice. Some elements to include at a fiesta-themed shower include:

● Strings of paper banners

● Bold floral centerpieces

● Baked goods with succulent or cacti decorations

● Beautiful paper fans as party favors

● Mini churros for dessert

Brightly colored bridal shower table decorations are a must for a fiesta theme. Hang a colorful Mexican blanket, and flank each side with a tall vase filled with traditional paper flowers for a festive bridal shower backdrop that everyone will love taking photos with.

Gourmet Get-Together

If your bride is a food connoisseur, she’ll love a food-themed party. Bridal shower decoration ideas might include bouquets of kitchen utensils wrapped with colorful ribbons. For an easy, on-theme photo background, make a gigantic recipe card listing the “ingredients” that make the couple unique. Other activities could include blindfolded tasting tests or guessing the ingredients in a particular dish.

For a thoughtful memento the bride will cherish, have guests sign the back of a serving platter with a permanent marker instead of the traditional guest book. Another idea is to have each guest bring a handwritten recipe and put them together in a cookbook.

An (Almost) Destination Shower

A destination bridal shower isn’t always practical. The requirement to travel can make it difficult for older relatives and others to attend. However, you can still create a travel vibe by including decorations and foods from the bride’s favorite place. If the lucky couple is traveling for their honeymoon, you might even choose their honeymoon destination to inspire your bridal shower decoration ideas.

For a tropical bridal shower theme, include plenty of lush, fragrant flowers, fruit-based cocktails, and beach-themed décor. Elegant pastries, champagne, and photos of the Eiffel Tower are essential for a Parisian-inspired party.

Guests could bring gifts specific to the couple’s travel needs, including cash gifts to help pay for the honeymoon or provide for a memorable excursion.

Gift Themes

Organizing a shower around a specific gift theme is fun and helps ensure the couple gets the items they need and want. It also makes it easier to think of unique bridal shower decoration ideas.

Base a gift theme on the bride and groom's personal preferences. A book theme is perfect for bibliophile couples who want to build an excellent library. Stacks of colorfully wrapped books or library-themed accessories are good decor ideas.

Cookbooks and kitchenware will thrill the couple that enjoys cooking together. Use mixing bowls filled with kitchen gadgets for centerpieces and colorful kitchen linens to create a thematic table setting.

Event tickets are an adventurous offering to those who enjoy nights on the town. Decorate with photos of events the couple has attended together in the past. A giant vintage-style movie ticket would make a fun photo background that fits the theme.

Bridal Shower Centerpieces for Every Style and Budget

Bridal shower centerpieces don’t have to be just flowers, but a centerpiece gives the décor a focus and helps to fortify the theme. Finalizing a centerpiece idea isn’t difficult if you have a strong concept. For example, if you’re using colors such as a rose gold bridal shower, a scattering of rose petals surrounding a gold candle would be simple, inexpensive, and elegant.

Here are a few more centerpiece ideas based on a theme.

1. A Fall Wedding

Fall bridal shower ideas often include traditional fall flowers like sunflowers and chrysanthemums in spicy shades. Try using a natural white or painted and hollowed-out pumpkin as a vase for your centerpiece. A white pumpkin nods to the season without limiting your other color options. Incorporating seasonal textures is another way to celebrate fall without making your bridal shower feel bright and fun. Wooden vases, dried hydrangeas, woodsy herbs, and textured linens will help you set the theme in style.

2. Simple Charms

Rustic bridal shower decorations can still be elegant and bridal if you consider what “rustic” really means. In this context, think of a peaceful, rolling countryside and the joys of simple living.

Above all else, rustic bridal shower decorations need to be warm and welcoming. Centerpieces might include raffia-wrapped canning jars, wooden lanterns holding beeswax candles, or bouquets of wildflowers arranged in a watering can. You could decide to skip the flowers and fill decorative jars with rustic-looking handmade soaps for a unique centerpiece that doubles as a party favor.

3. Best Friends Forever

Some bridal showers are small affairs that include only the bride’s inner circle. If you’re planning an intimate friend’s themed bridal shower, consider using photos of the bride and her favorite people for centerpieces. Choose frames that complement the color scheme. For an even more personal touch, friends could write letters to the bride with their good wishes for a happy marriage and place them in beautifully hand-decorated envelopes next to the photos.

4. Gorgeously Affordable

You don’t have to break the bank to give your friend a beautiful shower. You can create stunning centerpieces for pennies with creativity and donations from friends and family.

Ideas include:

● A cluster of white taper candles in mismatched metallic holders

● Potted herbs or plants

● An arrangement of whole seasonal fruits and vegetables

● Interesting pieces of collectible glass or pottery on loan from friends and family

● A single gigantic bloom, such as a dinner-plate dahlia in a modern vase

● A simple garland of greenery running through the center of the table

● Framed photos of the bride and groom

● A collection of bud vases, each holding a single flower

Bridal shower decoration ideas don’t have to be complicated or expensive to create a memorable celebration. You can show your love and support for the bride by choosing centerpiece ideas that show how well you know her as a person, which she will value highly.

5. Spring Showers

A spring-themed bridal shower may be the easiest of all themes. Dress your table in soft pastel colors and splashes of spring green for seasonal appeal. Create centerpieces of tulips, daffodils, and other early bloomers that are beautiful and plentiful at this time of year. But don’t stop there! Provide texture with light wicker mats or a wooden tray filled with vibrant green moss and votive candles in your theme colors.

Putting It All Together with Tadashi Shoji

Whether you’re planning a dramatic bridal shower balloon arch as a photo backdrop or dealing with a modest budget, you can create a bridal shower your friend will remember forever. Tadashi Shoji can help you and your guests look their best with a selection of cocktail dresses, evening gowns and accessories perfect for any special event. With a range of styles and exquisite craftsmanship, Tadashi Shoji inspires real women, on their most memorable occasions, to feel confident in what they are wearing and comfortable in their own skin — in a word, beautiful. Contact Tadashi Shoji today to learn more about our bridal services or to set an appointment. Helping brides make their day even more beautiful is our specialty.