How to have a Zoom Bridal Shower!

Welcome to 2020! All of your social plans have been canceled! You will now only get to meet with your friends and family virtually. You may be expected to be a complete tech expert for every social gathering you do. Yay! Aren’t you excited? Terrified? Frustrated? Thankfully, I am here to help!

I’m an extremely social person and have made these virtual hangouts a large part of my daily life. I’ve experienced a lot of trial and error and have often fought the urge to throw my phone at the computer but, I’ve learned a lot and I would love to share some tips with you all! 

 

Here we go…

If you’re reading this, your friend or family member is getting married, and having a bridal shower is part of that process. We all need a reason to celebrate right now, so even though their wedding might not be going as planned (Crying Emoji) you can still have a fun and memorable event for your favorite Bride!

These tips can also be used for Baby Showers, Birthday Parties, Retirement Parties, etc!

Disclaimer: Although I refer to a Bride and a Groom during this post you can adjust this to fit any relationship you are celebrating. Love is love, my friends. <3

 

Prepping for the Event:

 

Talk it out- Talk to your Bride and see what her expectations for the Bridal Shower are.

• In a perfect world, if we were doing this all in the backyard on a beautiful breezy summer day what would you want out of the event?
• Do you have a theme in mind?
• Do you like Bridal Shower Games? If so, are there any in particular that you like or don’t like?
• Do you want photos of everyone (for a scrapbook etc)?
• What’s the age range of your guest list? Mostly younger, older, or mixed?
• Do you feel comfortable opening presents in front of your guests?

Now that you have an idea of what she wants, let’s get started!

Theme-Time to brainstorm! 

One way to make this event a little more real is to have a theme! Here are some examples:

Tea Party Theme

• Create invites with this in mind.
• Ask guests to put on their Sunday Best! Maybe add a hat for flair!
• Ask guests to have their tea and crumpets ready for the zoom party! They don’t have to do any of this, but if they do, bonus points!

Boots and Bubbly

• Same notes as above but now they dress in their country best and make sure they have some champs or mimosa to cheers with!

Beach Bonanza

• Flowy clothes, sun hats, and Pina Coladas!

Flower Power

• Summer of love, boho chic, with Frosé (frozen rose)!

Invites-Tell the people! 

1. How do you want to invite people? You have the option of using paper, online, or both (you may want to use paper for the traditional folks and online for the millennials).
2. Gather the guest list.
3. Make sure you have all of the information.

• The Basics- Who? What? When?
• Where?- I prefer the zoom platform and will go into detail later on about how to best use the app for events like this. Make sure you have already made a meeting ID and password (I recommend making the password something cute and personal to your bride) before sending out the invite. Here is a quick video guide if you need help.
• Theme Specifics- What should they wear/bring to this virtual party. Be specific so your guests know they may need to make preparations in days before the actual meeting.
• Gifts- If there is a registry make sure the guests know about it and send the gifts to the Bride’s home in time for the party. Include the Bride’s mailing address to make it easier for the guests.
• Marital Advice/Food Recipes/Date Ideas: If your Bride wants her guests to give her any of these let the guests know they can email them to her at any time!

4. Give them at least two weeks’ notice, I know some of us don’t have a lot going on right now but you want all guests to have enough time to buy gifts, make plans for the kids, order food/outfits, etc.

Games-Let’s have fun, but be realistic! Yay! 

If your bride is into having games at her Bridal Shower here is what I suggest:

He Said/She Said (adjust pronouns to the couple’s preferences)

• You can find a downloadable template for this game on Etsy.
• Have the Bride fill out her answers ahead of time.
• I would suggest having the guests all get a scrap of paper and write the letter B on one and G on the other.
• Go through the questions slowly with the guests and for each question have them hold up the letter of the person they think did it. Example: Who spends more time on their hair in the morning? Bride or Groom? And people would hold up who they think and look at each other. The bride can give her commentary and then tell everyone the answer.

How well do you know the Bride?

• You can find a downloadable template for this game on Etsy.
• Have the Bride fill out her answers ahead of time.
• The guests can now use the back of those scraps of paper to write their answers down.
• Go through the list slowly and allow the guests to write down their answers.
• Then have the Bride go through her answers.

How old was the Bride?

• Have your Bride and/or her family find several photos of her throughout the years.
• Determine her age in these photos. This can be tricky!
• Scan these photos and have them ready to go on your computer. Share your screen and have everyone write down what age they think she is during the photo. At the end have the Bride go through all of the answers.
• If you can’t scan the photos you can always have someone hold them up to the camera.

Traditionally the people who win these games at Bridal Showers get a prize for winning these games. I would suggest noting who the winners are and send them a little prize in the mail (nowadays you can send gift cards via email too, so it’s easy). This is completely optional though! 

 

The Event Itself:

Does everyone know how to use Zoom?

For those who don’t, I recommend having them download and try to sign in earlier in the day so they feel comfortable when the time comes.

Know your Role:

Bride-Should have her answer sheets, gifts, drinks, and snacks ready to go!

Host-Should have the game questions/prompts ready to go. As well as drinks and snacks at the ready! The host will be responsible for letting the guests know how and when to switch views for zoom (more about this later) and mute/unmute guests as needed.

If you don’t know what I mean by the different views on Zoom here is a quick video lesson.

If you don’t know how to mute/unmute people here is a quick video lesson.

Agenda: 

Introductions: Give people about 5 minutes to sign on and get situated then have the Bride go through and call on each person she sees to introduce themselves. Example: Hi! I am Sierra and I am the Bride’s friend from College! Go Gators!

Group Photo: In the galleryview, have everyone smile and take a screenshot. Bonus points- Have all your guests send a selfie to the bride for her scrapbook!

Games: Advise guests on what they need for the games. Give them a minute to gather their supplies. For the games listed above all that is needed are some scrap paper and a pen.

Depending on the game, tell the guests they CAN but don’t have to switch their view from Gallery to Speaker (if you don’t know how to zoom this is usually in the top right corner of your screen).

• He Said/She Said-I suggest gallery view so the guests can all see each other’s answers. Everyone can be unmuted.
• How Well Do You Know The Bride-Either view will work but I would keep everyone but the Bride and Host muted.
• How Old Was the Bride-I would suggest speaker view so that the photo that is screen shared is large. If you unmute everyone you will be able to hear their ahs and ooh’s but then the speaker view will change to each person’s reaction. This might be frustrating so I suggest muting everyone but the host.

If you don’t know how to share your screen on Zoom here is a quick video lesson.

Gifts: I suggest having someone in the Brides vicinity write down the gifts. Maybe the fiancé can make his debut here!

Typically, the ribbons and tissue paper from Bridal Shower gifts are used as the Bride’s practice bouquet at the rehearsal dinner! If they can separate the ribbons and tissue paper for the rehearsal bouquet for the Maid of Honor to pick up later, then that is awesome! If not, maybe they can set them aside while cleaning up. 

I recommend that everyone put their screen on speaker views and as the host, I would mute everyone. This will again be a bummer of not getting the “oohs” and “ahhs” but it will be a more pleasant experience for everyone to just see the Bride. 

One thing you can do as the host is to have everyone put their commentary in the chatbox and then you can read it aloud. Yes, with Speaker view this means it will bounce between you and Bride but it is better than having it change to each guest every time they slurp their drink, haha. 

Thank you: The Bride can thank everyone for the gifts (a blanket statement) and for attending her party! 

As the host, thank everyone for their patience! This is a crazy time and having to use and learn this new app can be challenging. 

 

Woohoo! You did it!

You successfully threw your bestie an amazing virtual bridal shower!

Give yourself a pat on the back and pour yourself a very large glass of wine! 

 

Please comment below if you have any other tips and tricks for hosting a virtual party! Also feel free to reach out to us here at Something Borrowed Weddings and Events if you have any specific questions! info(at)sbwe.net 

Stay safe everyone! <3