SOUTHERN BRIDAL SHOWER IDEAS AND TRADITIONS FROM THE SOUTH

You have decided to throw a Southern bridal shower and what a better place to look for advice than the South. Here you will find quintessential best bridal shower ideas from the cake to the decorations. Trust me, Southerners know how to shower a young lady!

Ever since I was a little girl I remember being awed by southern bridal showers. The woman would bring out their best serving pieces and prepare some traditional foods.

So when my daughter got engaged a friend and I was excited to shower her with all these lovely things. As a result, I couldn't wait to share with you these amazing bridal shower ideas.

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Southern Bridal Shower

If there is one word that describes a Southern bridal shower that is the word dainty. As you plan your event think delicate. So let's get started and dive into your first step and that is planning.

Easy Bridal Shower Ideas

Like with the home decor project I always recommend collecting ideas. If you want a traditional bridal shower from the South then keep reading but make sure to come back here and check out my how to party and picnic Pinterest board.

I have many spring Southern bridal shower theme ideas to get your creative juices going on my Pinterest board. The whole board is packed with wedding shower ideas as well as other party ideas. But here is a breakdown of steps so you know what to look for when you are surfing Pinterest or magazines for bridal party ideas.

• Invitation
• Tablecloth (block print and linen)
• Table Centerpiece (milk glass and silver tray)
• Serving pieces (depression glass, silver trays, and clear trays)
• Chalkboard cards to label food
• Tiered cake
• China and silverware
• Buffet with cake and punch
• Linen runner for buffet
• Drink cart or table
• Chandelier crown
• Game decorations (chalkboard easel, sharpie, jumbo popsicle sticks)
• Photo background or chalkboard
• Decor for other tables
• Flower arrangements around the room
• Recipes

Once you have your decor and recipe ideas saved look through all the photos and look for bridal shower themes that you think the bride will love. In our situation, we had a spring southern theme. The colors were spring-inspired and we knew we wanted to use traditional more formal southern elements in our design.

But if a southern style wedding shower doesn't seem to fit your bride keep looking for other creative bridal shower ideas. It is also a great idea to consider the colors the wedding party will be wearing. Think about what the bride loves, style-wise, and use her colors in your shower.

A southern style party is great option for a bachelorette party and engagement parties too.

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What is a Traditional Southern Bridal Shower

So your next step in planning your Southern bridal shower is to know many of the traditional elements.

From what I can tell traditions vary from one region of the south to another so if some of these are not traditions in your neck of the woods then don't be surprised.

Now I am from the northern part of Florida and honestly, I had to go way back in my brain and call on some friends and family to help me remember some of these elements.

Can you tell I have not been to a bridal shower in a while? Anyways, here is a list of some traditional southern decor elements we came up with.

• Silver trays, depression glass, or clear glass serving dishes
• Linen napkins or monogrammed paper napkins
• Block print tablecloth, linen tablecloth, and linen runners
• Fresh flowers
• China and silver forks and spoons

And the bridal shower brunch food is really where things get traditional. Here is the type of finger foods we remember being traditional southern bridal shower foods.

• Finger sandwiches
• Wedding Danish cookies
• Strawberry Sherbert Punch
• Cucumber and lemon water
• Tiered cake
• Fresh fruit tray
• Veggie tray

One other thing to remember when planning a bridal shower is to consider the colors the bride has selected for her wedding. Many times it is customary to repeat those colors in the shower.

Our bride has a biscotti color which is more of a neutral tone but she shared with us that recently she has gravitated to pink so we added pink to our list of colors.

Now let's get started with the invitation.

Bridal Shower Invitation

Once you have your theme look for invitations that reflect the theme.

In our case, we knew we wanted fresh flowers and milk glass to play a big part in our design so we decided on a flower on the invitation.

Here is an example of the invitation we used. It will give you an idea of an invitation for your bridal shower.

Once you have your invitations grab your guest list and fill them out. Another place I love to look for bridal invitations is Minted.com. My favorite thing about this company is the envelopes. You input all your address and they print them on the envelopes. I love how it looks and it makes life easier.

Table Linens

Another thing that we knew we wanted to use was a block print tablecloth. Because our bride loved muted colors and pink we knew a bright-colored tablecloth was not on the agenda. So lucky for us we found this Pottery Barn blush-colored block print tablecloth.

It laid the groundwork for our table because it was the color pink that would drive all other designs. The second thing that was important was the main centerpiece.

Milk Glass Floral Centerpiece

Our bride loves milk glass and she loves the color white so when I saw a cute table centerpiece made of these elements on Pinterest I knew I had found the right design.

While antiquing in Dahlonega, Georgia I came across five reasonably prices milk glass vases. I snagged them all and couldn't wait to use them in the bridal shower decor.

Next because this centerpiece had a more minimalist design and needed some grounding we place a round silver tray under the vases and flowers. This really helped to give the centerpiece a cohesive appearance.

Last we picked out all the dainty flowers we could find at the local grocery store to go into the vases. I love grocery store flowers! In fact, I share some of my secrets about the best places to buy flowers post.

Serving Pieces

Next lay out all your serving pieces of silver, depression glass, or clear glass. We used some of my grandmother's pink depression glass which to our surprise matched the tablecloth perfectly.

And I borrowed a few other pieces of silver from my sister. Let me encourage you to reach out to the family to borrow pieces for the shower. Most of the time family are happy to see it used.

Chalkboard Food Labels

It is important to label your food on your table especially if you have some specialty items like gluten-free or dairy-free.

An easy way to label your food is with chalkboard paper labels. The labels we used were actually more square-shaped but we cut them in half to make them more narrow for the table.

Use a chalk marker to write on your labels. Let me recommend writing on the labels before the day of the party. And if you have a friend or family member who knows how to write in calligraphy ask them to fill them in for you unless you have that beautiful talent.

Tiered Cake

I don't know about you but I think a tiered cake is very special for a shower. But tiered cakes can be very expensive so I am about to share a little secret.

If your bride loves naked cakes, a cake that isn't covered in icing then go to a grocery store and ask the bakery for a two-tiered cake to feed however many people are coming to your party.

Do not ask for any decorations just naked cake. Once you get the cake home add some of the extra flowers to the cake and sugar-covered berries.

China and Silverware

Next on the agenda is to place china and silverware around the table. The way our table was laid out made the corners a great place to place the china and silverware.

If you have real silver and china go ahead and use them for the party. It really makes everyone feel special and it makes your table look lovely.

Buffet with Cake and Punch

If you have another table or buffet then consider placing your cake and punch on the table. Place a beautiful linen runner on the table and a cake on one side and the punch bowl and glasses on the other side.

Add a few candles and another dish with something that is allergy friends if you have a guest who has any issues with gluten or dairy like I do. And don't forget to place some dessert china dishes next to the cake.

If you don't have enough space for some water you can add a little table next to the buffet for your water. Again add a little runner and an ice bucket or small cooler for ice.

Flower Chandelier

If you have a chandelier here is an easy flower chandelier idea that looks like you spent hours creating it.

Before you begin doing this project lay an old sheet or something over the table to catch anything that drops from the flowers while you are creating it.

You will need about 8 to 10 bouquets of baby's breath to create to do this project. Simply pull the baby's breath apart and start laying it across the arms of the chandelier.

Keep stacking it until you get it the height you want. Once you have it all evenly spaced take some scissors and cut the stems.

This project should be done the morning of the event because the flowers will start to wilt because they are not in water. Also, as time goes forward the arrangement will settle and look more compact too.

I ended up leaving this flower crown chandelier up for a week. It was so pretty!

Bridal Shower Game Decorations

One of the most fun things about showers is the bridal shower games. Here are a few fun party games we remember from long ago and one new one.

This first game is the new one we discovered at another bridal shower for my daughter. Repeating the milk glass and using a chalkboard we gave the guests instructions to write some marriage advice for the bride and groom on a jumbo popsicle stick.

Another fun traditional bridal shower game idea is to keep count every time the bride breaks a bow while opening presents. Supposedly for each broken bow is how many children they will have. Of course, we don't really believe this but it is a fun game to play.

Bridal Shower Backdrop

It is always fun to have a photo backdrop, photo booth, or a large chalkboard for people to take photos in front of. We have this large chalkboard and after searching for a pretty design to create on it my other daughter Hannah graciously used her talents to copy what we found on Pinterest onto this bridal shower backdrop.

It turned out to be a great place for people to take photos with the bride.

Accessories

It is always good to repeat design elements and in our case, we tossed a white tablecloth on another table and filled it with milk glass vases full of flowers and candles.

To anchor the centerpiece we placed a chalk painted piece of wood under the vases and candles. If you have never painted with chalk paint before check out my how to paint with chalk paint post.

And repeated the same flowers from the main serving table.

This traditional shower party is complete and ready to greet guests. Now it is time to celebrate the bride.

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Conclusion

Here are a few details to remember once you have all your decorations finished. Don't forget your front porch if your party is at home.

Add some decorations to the porch like a beautiful spring wreath that reflects the decorations, layered rugs, container garden, and more.

Also, here we used Reese Witherspoon, Whiskey in a Teacup book for the finger sandwich recipes. I have enjoyed this book so much it is on my top home decor book list for beginners.

Having one or two friends or family members help you host the event makes it more fun and easier if you each split up the tasks. Sam, who is a close friend of Savanna's, gladly hosted too. What a beautiful memory to plan such an event with someone who means a lot to Savanna.

Well, what do you think about hosting a traditional southern themed wedding shower? I hope these DIY bridal shower ideas been helpful and that you have a great shower! And here is a wedding invitation keepsake idea that you can make as a gift for the bride using the bridal shower invitation.

But before I go I have a surprise. If you like the flower design on our invitation we have made it into a free printable. Simply subscribe to my email and you will a link to the printable library.

Happy Decorating!

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