The Citizen, 2005-02-10, Page 27Siudal itnp^itani patt &{, uLeddinff
The months before the wedding
arc always fun. Besides the
excitement of being newly engaged
and the planning and shopping, your
friends and relatives will want to
celebrate by honouring you with
dinners and parties. Bridal showers
arc an important part of this
tradition.
Showers are a lime for your
friends and family to meet and get to
know one another before the
wedding. The purpose of showers
has always been to help outfit the
couple's new home, or assemble the
bride's trousseau. As tradition has it.
a close friend, maid of honour,
relative or bridesmaid may give you
a shower. Il is not proper for the
shower to be hosted by your or your
groom's mother or immediate
family, although they may help.
Showers are usually given a
month or two before the wedding. In
order not to become a financial
burden, it is better if two or three
people host one together, rather than
have several different showers. In
the event you are given more than
one. try not to invite the same people
to every shower. Weddings can
become expensive, especially for
your bridal party, so don't take the
joy out of it by sending them to the
poorhouse.
Planning The Shower
Generally, the hostess and the
bride get together to determine a
dale, a guest list and the kind of
shower it will be. Sometimes the
hostess may surprise the bride and
get the information from the Hance.
The traditional all-female shower is
usually an afternoon luncheon or
tea, with between ten and twenty
guests. Invitations are usually sent,
but they are not mandatory.
Not everyone who is invited to the
wedding need be invited to the
shower. Guests are usually close
friends or relatives, or perhaps you
may have one shower with each
group. Avoid any hurt feelings by
only inviting people to the shower
who arc invited to the reception,
unless the wedding is taking place
out of town, or only for close family
members. A fun idea might be to
have all the married women bring
their wedding albums. It's fun to
look back at your mother's,
grandmother’s or a close friend's
wedding.
Popular today, especially with
older couples, are co-ed showers,
which generally turn out to be just
another party, but with gifts and,
possibly, games. The men have a
great time.
When most of your friends arc
married, it is nice to plan the party
for a weekend evening.
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One of the reasons brides may not
want to be married in their own
church is because they don’t believe
it is suitable for a wedding.
They may believe the church is
too small, too dark, loo old-
fashioned or — too modern.
Another reason is that the church
may have two side aisles instead of
one, centre aisle.
The brides just cannot figure out
who would sit where, which aisle
the wedding party should use, or
how to make sure everyone can sec
the bridal party.
It really isn't too difficult to adapt
the traditional wedding processional
and recessional.
If both aisles are used, the
wedding party enters the church and
proceeds down the left aisle. After
the ceremony is completed, they
leave the church along the right
aisle.
To ensure everyone can see, the
church is divided down the middle
from front to back. The bride’s
family and friends sit on the left and
right sides of the left aisle. The
groom’s family and friends sit on the
left and right side of the right aisle.
If the bride would prefer to arrive
and leave by the same aisle, one
aisle is simply not used. Friends and
family are seated as they would be
normally, with bride's family on the
left of the aisle being used and
groom's family on the right.
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Page 2. The Citizen. Weddings 2005