bridal favors: There’s a downpour of fun ideas for today's bridal showers!

Bridal showers have an interesting history and are thought to have originated in Holland. According to popular belief, a poor Dutch girl fell in love and married a poor miller despite her father’s objections. The disapproving father refused to give the customary bridal dowry, but friends came to the couple’s aid and “showered” the bride with gifts to set up their home. While dowries are long gone today, the practice of giving gifts to the bride remains. However, the method of how showers are given has changed considerably since the poor Dutch girl got married. Today’s showers have fun themes and a wide selection of decorations and favors, according to Jessica Holland, a bridal coordinator. “They’re definitely coming up with a lot now for showers,” she said. Holland works at Events By Annette in Temecula, which stocks a few shower items and has catalogs for customers to order items. Some of the items are unique, Holland said. Personalized shower clothing can be ordered as well as neat favors like a heart-shaped wine stopper or a huge engagement ring keychain. One catalog has a keepsake shower plate that guests can sign with a silver pen and a wedding dress form that can be used as a table decoration or cake topper. Regarding cakes, Holland said bakers are being requested to make fondant ones that resemble the famous blue Tiffany jeweler’s box. “Most of the showers have had it this year. It’s pretty popular,” she said. Holland knows a lot about showers because of her job and the fact that she recently wed. “I actually just got married,” she said. “My shower was five months ago.” Her mother and maid of honor organized the shower, which was held at her mother’s house with 20 guests attending. The shower’s theme was pink because that’s Holland’s favorite color and what she chose for her wedding. When choosing a theme, Holland said hosts should consider the bride’s hobbies or interests. She commented that a popular theme now is Stock the Pantry, which requires each guest to give the bride their favorite recipe, plus the ingredients and utensils to make it. Couple showers are becoming popular too because more men are involved in the wedding process and don’t want to be left out of pre-wedding festivities. Holland said the maid of honor and best man host a shower for the couple at a restaurant, bar or other favorite place. “It’s getting to be more of a fad,” she said. At Holland’s shower her guests played games, including Bridal Bingo. “It’s a really fun game,” she said. “It’s all about weddings.” Bridal Bingo came on the market last fall and sells for $15. Holland said she’s gotten good feedback from customers about how fun it is to play. As for gifts, Holland said she got a lot of pink and heart-shaped ones, which matched her theme. Two of the gifts she received were a pink cookbook and a heart-shaped baking pan. While opening gifts, Holland said she didn’t break any ribbons because she was told that the number of ribbons she broke would represent how many children she would have. “I didn’t break any. I opened them very carefully,” she said, laughing. By Laurie Rathbun