Bridal Shower in Texas for Bride That Lives in Spain?!

Knottie1444159381

We will be hosting a bridal shower for a bride who is currently living (and will be married) in Spain. The Mother of the Bride is able to fly her in to Texas for about 48 hours so that family and friends who live in here but won't be able to make the trip to Spain for the wedding next year. 

Any ideas on how to handle potential gifts? Or how to address it to the guests? Shipping will be expensive and it is hard to ask guests to just give cash or gift cards (if anything at all). Any and all thoughts are appreciated as we are all out of ideas of how to best manage!

ShesSoCold

Knottie1444159381 said:

We will be hosting a bridal shower for a bride who is currently living (and will be married) in Spain. The Mother of the Bride is able to fly her in to Texas for about 48 hours so that family and friends who live in here but won't be able to make the trip to Spain for the wedding next year. 

Any ideas on how to handle potential gifts? Or how to address it to the guests? Shipping will be expensive and it is hard to ask guests to just give cash or gift cards (if anything at all). Any and all thoughts are appreciated as we are all out of ideas of how to best manage!

If the bride doesn't want to pay to ship the gifts, then I suggest nixing the shower completely. You can have a brunch or tea or other ladies party (or coed) but the purpose of a shower is to give gifts and it's tacky and rude to ask for cash or gift cards.

Maggie0829

ShesSoCold said:

Knottie1444159381 said:

We will be hosting a bridal shower for a bride who is currently living (and will be married) in Spain. The Mother of the Bride is able to fly her in to Texas for about 48 hours so that family and friends who live in here but won't be able to make the trip to Spain for the wedding next year. 

Any ideas on how to handle potential gifts? Or how to address it to the guests? Shipping will be expensive and it is hard to ask guests to just give cash or gift cards (if anything at all). Any and all thoughts are appreciated as we are all out of ideas of how to best manage!

If the bride doesn't want to pay to ship the gifts, then I suggest nixing the shower completely. You can have a brunch or tea or other ladies party (or coed) but the purpose of a shower is to give gifts and it's tacky and rude to ask for cash or gift cards.

This.

TNDancer

Just have her bring an extra suitcase. Everyone knows she is traveling, and will presumably bring smaller gifts. Then she can just pay the $50 (or whatever it is now) baggage fee.

levioosa

The purpose of a bridal shower is to shower the bride with gifts, so asking people to give cash is not only awkward, it's rude.  Skip the bridal shower or host a bridal brunch instead where it is a mingle type event instead of a gift giving event.  

loro929

TNDancer said:

Just have her bring an extra suitcase. Everyone knows she is traveling, and will presumably bring smaller gifts. Then she can just pay the $50 (or whatever it is now) baggage fee.

This. I was in a similar situation. I live in Spain and my bridal shower was in NJ. I did not register for anything electric (due to the different voltages out here) and I just paid for extra suitcases, took everything out of the boxes and packed them in as tight as possible.

To be honest, a lot of people ended up giving me gift cards too, to the places where I was registered, as they knew that I would be travelling and figured then I could buy things online and have them shipped directly to my home overseas. The only thing that I could not bring back with me was a set of formal china. I was too nervous to pack it into a checked back, so it is at my parent's home in boxes until I figure it out.

justsie

I am not very familiar with the stores in Spain but another option would be to suggest she only register at places that are in both locations, she could return the items she received in Texas and repurchase them in Spain. Some larger stores even offer shipping to another location. 

I agree with everyone else on other options as well. 

climbingsingle

Knottie1444159381 said:

We will be hosting a bridal shower for a bride who is currently living (and will be married) in Spain. The Mother of the Bride is able to fly her in to Texas for about 48 hours so that family and friends who live in here but won't be able to make the trip to Spain for the wedding next year. 

Any ideas on how to handle potential gifts? Or how to address it to the guests? Shipping will be expensive and it is hard to ask guests to just give cash or gift cards (if anything at all). Any and all thoughts are appreciated as we are all out of ideas of how to best manage!

Are the people invited to this shower also invited to the wedding?