Wedding shower

[HolbornBound]

I am having a couple of wedding hen events with different groups of friends. My mother is also wanting to do a wedding shower for me in a more formal setting. Who should I invite to this - guess it's more family? Should I invite my SIL and MIL to be?

We had a wedding shower. It was pissing down!

@FeinsteinA

I'm really surprised that people think this is a new or American thing. When we were married 35 years ago in semi rural Scotland it was absolutely the norm. It was called a show then mind you, not a shower, but it was held after the invitations had gone out but before the wedding. Gifts were delivered for the show (never, ever taken to the actual wedding unless people were coming from far away) put on display and the women of the family and female friends would gather round to ooo and ahhh over the gifts. It was always on a Sunday afternoon and involved tea and cakes. I once heard of someone offering sparkling wine but it caused quite the stir in the village!

It was completely different from the hen do, which just involved a pub crawl basically in those days.

A show and a shower are not the same thing

The show is to display the wedding presents, which had been sent by then as it was the norm to send in advance then (it's actually v recent, and when you think about it quite inconvenient to take presents in the day)

A bridal shower is a separate event to shower the bride with gifts in addition to the wedding presents

If you’re in the UK don’t do it!