bridal shower

Today I hosted a bridal shower! It was a lot of fun, but I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about it. I was wondering what cultural faux pas I was going to commit today without even realizing it. Were the red and gold flowers I bought actually a symbol of death in the culture? Did having an odd number of chairs mean I wished them bad luck? Was it wrong to serve coffee before chai? I had no clue, and honestly, if I did something wrong, I'll probably never know it anyway.

The hard part was that I was throwing somewhat of a third culture bridal shower, because the bride is South Asian, but she is a cousin, and she is also very Western. So for example, on the invitations (which were just printed on regular paper and passed out to everyone at the office), I was going to put this picture of bridal mehendi, until husband wisely suggested I call her sister just to double check if this picture was appropriate. I did, and her sister kindly told me that the wedding was going to be about as Western as it gets - white gown, no bangles, no mehendi, etc. So the invitations turned out like this.

The shower was pretty much last minute, a thought from some ladies in the English weekly group I attend. I offered our house, and since my "American cookies" (chocolate chip :) were specially requested, I made those. But other ladies chipped in with South Asian snacks and cake, so I really didn't do much. Another lady led a time of special requests for the upcoming wedding and marriage, and then the bride's sister led us in some games. There were about 20 ladies in attendance. Sounds a lot like American bridal showers, wouldn't you agree?

What's a bridal shower without food?

The mother of the bride is Auntie. (For those of you who read the baby blog, she is the same one who is loaning us the awesome baby crib) She was videoing all day.

The bride was asked to reenact the proposal.

The toilet paper bridal gown game transcends all borders. She's beautiful, isn't she?