Host a Personalized Bridal Shower

Nowadays brides don't always take their husband's names. However, if the bride does plan to change her name, you can use the bridal shower to help her transition to her new name. Host a “Monogram It!” bridal shower. She’ll have her new initials on everything from hand towels to key chains and will be excited about her new name.

Here are some cute ideas to get your creative juices flowing for your Monogram It! bridal shower planning and online invitations:

• Table Setting: For a truly white glove event, monogram the table linens (napkins and table cloth) and stemware in advance and use them at the event. The bride-to-be will be thrilled to see this gift that shel'll also be able to take home.

• Shower Cake: Serve a beautiful tiered cake featuring her new last initial. It doesn't matter if you make the cake yourself or order it from a local bakery, just come up with a design that will highlight her new name or initials in a pretty way.

• Shower Decorations: Use pastel colored alphabet cookies with an initial on each (that look like block letters) to spell out the bride's name. You can also hand out cookies to guests as they arrive with their first initial.

• Gift Ideas: Monogram a large canvas bag so she can carry her unwrapped goodies home. You can also request that guests bring at least one monogrammed item. For example, a Crock Pot may be the primary gift so suggest that the guest also include monogrammed recipe cards.

• Something Blue: Monogram an Irish Linen handkerchief with blue thread. She can carry this down the aisle for her “something blue" (and can double as her "something new").

It is important to note when monogramming anything that most people prefer to have the bride’s first initial on the left, the surname initial in the middle and the groom’s initial on the right. This is a twist on tradition as the groom historically was on the left. Regardless of how or what you monogram, it’s a symbolic way of showing the union of two people becoming one family and makes a romantic bridal shower theme.  

Bridal Shower Planning and Online Invitations at Punchbowl.