A Bookish Bridal Shower

DIY Friday | Post #14

Aaaaaaaaand it’s here. It’s finally time. I must confess to you my fondness of these lovely things called books… I am what you would call a book nerd.

That said, when I decided to help plan a bridal shower for one of my dearest friends from high school, I knew it’d be easy to pick the theme because we are definitely kindred spirits when it comes to our love of literature. (Anne of Green Gables fans, see what I did there? Ooohhh this post will be fun.)

So we threw her a bookish bridal shower, & the end result was so fun that I wanted to share it with you today!

 

The Essential Elements of a Bookish Bridal Shower

Book-themed invitations – check!

I was so excited when I found this library-themed invitation template as a free download from Tam Vo (link to the her Pinterest pin is here), although the original website seems to have disappeared. I’d recommend scouring Etsy for some affordable alternatives! I then simply used Photoshop to add in my own text for the party details.

Bookish Decorations Are a Must

These are some of my favorite Jane Austen quotes, especially the one from Emma. “If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.” If you haven’t yet seen the BBC mini-series of Emma starring Romola Garai and Johnny Lee Miller, get on it. I promise your heart will melt when this line shows up.

Anyway, what I did was print out the quotes on some cream scrapbook paper & then I found some beautiful dollar store frames for them to live in. These frames went on the food & dessert table along with a nice, lace tablecloth for a more rustic look.

I later ended up keeping them for myself & putting them on a handmade shelf above my desk just because I needed to have them around. (Link to that post can be found here).

Let the Bookish Games Begin

I ended up going with a simple one since it wasn’t a book club crowd 🙂

So in the invitation, I asked everyone to bring a copy of their favorite book, and then when it was time for the bride-to-be to open her gifts, she first had to pick up a book from the stack and guess who brought the book. And then if she guessed correctly, she would open up the gift her friend had brought.

Side note: she ended up being too good at this game and got them almost all right. Hah! She knows her friends so well 🙂

Prior to gift opening, we also played the Ask the Groom bridal shower game (similar description here). I’ve played this game at three bridal showers now & it’s been a hit every time! Two grooms filmed their answers beforehand and one the sent the answers to me which I read aloud for the crowd 🙂

There are many, many other book-themed games you could consider as well, which could even be great for book-themed baby showers. I love the idea of everyone showing up and getting assigned a character from literature, and then having to ask the other party goers for clues as to who they might be. I’ve even heard of the guests bringing books for the mommy-to-be to start off her children’s book library, and writing special notes on the inside of the cover!

Whatever type of bridal shower you end up creating, my biggest piece of advice is to keep it simple. Remember that the shower is about making the future bride feel loved & supported, and most often that happens just when people show up. Have fun & don’t sweat the details!

// What type of bridal showers have you been to, and which ones were your favorite? Are there any bookish things that I missed in my post? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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