Surprise Bridal Shower

My family planned a shower for me at home when I arrived at the end of June. I knew the date and time and that it was a tea party, but nothing else. It was spectacular! Now I live and work in British Columbia but am getting married in Nova Scotia. We had invited a whole bunch of our friends from where we live because we love them all so much. Unfortunately a lot cannot attend the wedding due to distance and cost (6000km is a LONG way), but we still have 8 people coming. These friends threw me a COMPLETELY surprise shower! Like I didn't even have a clue it was happening! A number of our friends do a dinner club (we take turns cooking for each other and rotate each week) so I thought I was just going to friends for dinner. FH even brought me there because he would have been coming to dinner to! There was a facebook feed with everyone confirming they were coming for dinner and everything. I was so surprised... I cried a little lol. I was totally underdressed though! I had been wearing a nice maxi dress about an hour before I left, but changed into shorts and a t-shirt because I figured we would just be having a campfire after dinner anyways lol. It was fine though, I think if they are planning a surprise they should understand that you may not be dressed up. Don't stress about it. I still had a blast!

That is so sweet, ShanClark! I'm excited for the surprise and I know they'll do a great job, but my usual weekend attire is yoga pants and a tshirt unless I have somewhere to go. I'm lucky if I even wash my hair on the weekends. FH said that from now on I just always have to be dressed up wherever I go.

Haha Kelly I actually said to my friends after the shock settled in that they were lucky I washed my hair that day! I hear you in the causal weekend attire! I think your friends probably know you, so either they won't care, or they will come up with a clever way to get you dressed up without you knowing

I bought a dress a long time ago that I intended to wear to my shower so I'm tempted to wear it to meet up with my cousin Saturday - just in case. It's just a long, flowy maxi dress with some floral print so I feel like if I don't dress it up too much it can come across as totally casual? I recognize that it probably comes across as totally selfish of me to assume that a hangout with my cousin to plan a surprise party for my aunt is really a cover for my bridal shower, but what 16 year old thinks to book a site visit of a restaurant for a party? She gave very specific times/instructions to meet and was really vague about other things. I'm sure I'm overthinking it, but I'm just so excited that my mind is justifying anything right now haha. Okay, breathe Kelly.

My mom threw me a surprise shower even though I asked her not to. I rock yoga pants all the time so I told her to lie to me and tell me I was going someplace fancy so I knew I'd be dressed nice. She threw me off a few times so whenever she told me to look good I made sure I was camera ready..lol

Hopefully @ShanClark is right and someone will be watching out for you. My cousin had a surprise baby shower recently and she would have shown up all sweaty and messy. She figured it out when she told her husband she was going to go get in the pool and he told her, no she had to take a shower. Hahaha!

A surprise shower is really sweet of them, but I understand not wanted to be 100% surprised. I think your suspicion of your 16 yr old cousin is likely and not selfish, as you said 16 year olds don't generally have a lot of foresight for visiting a restaurant for a party. I know the date, time, and location of my shower, and have a good idea of who will be there. I have always wanted a surprise party my whole life and never got one, so I was actually kind of hoping for a surprise shower. I think that if people go through the trouble of planning a surprise party for you and keep it a secret, it shows how much effort they are willing to put in to make a special day for you. So don't worry about your attire, if they do plan to surprise you it is b/c they care about you. But since you said the dress is a maxi and not anything crazy fancy, I think you would be fine to wear it that day, even if it turns out not to be when the shower is.

It's definitely your shower BUT I would act surprised and I would wear nice jeans and a shirt or a casual skirt and shirt. They've gone out of their way to surprise you so let them!! Wash your hair, wear normal make up and look 'going out to lunch with a friend' nice. You'll have to let us know!

@Jacqui that's what I was afraid of haha and I assumed that they'd loop FH in to prevent that, but according to him he's as clueless as I am. I keep going back and forth - one second I'm convinced that this Saturday is it, the next second I think I'm being crazy and reading into things too much. @Robin I'll definitely take that advice and keep you posted!

Kelly I'm in the same boat!!! My shower is a total surprise, I don't know the date, the location, anything. I also have had a few gifts come to my house but my mom came by and took them right away and FORBADE me from opening them lol.... Every event we have on a weekend I am questioning and second-guessing... I actually thought FH's brother's graduation party could have been my shower lol ... I am so anxious that I will be in crappy clothes, FH knows when it is so I told him that he needs to let me think i'm going somewhere nice so at least I'll look decent... I'm kind of a control freak so this is killing me!

For some reason, this is a "thing" for weddings but I absolutely HATE surprises and so although I didn't know anything about my shower other than date, time and guestlist -- I told them under no uncertain terms, I do NOT want to be surprised lol.

@annakay I hate surprises too! My mom wanted to do a surprise bridal shower for my sister (we did that) and then a surprise baby shower for her recently. My sister and I made a pact that I would tell her when her baby shower was if she tells me when the bridal shower is. We'll both still act surprised for my mom's sake, but then we don't have to deal with the stress on ourselves of a surprise!

@AutumnBride I'm glad I'm not alone! At least your FH knows when it is so he can make sure you look presentable haha.

@annakay511 - I love surprises, don't get me wrong, but I HATE knowing that there's a surprise coming and not knowing when/where/what/etc. I'm grateful but incredibly anxious to know.

@WWKatie - I LOVE that you and your sister made a pact haha. Even if I just knew which weekend it was, I'd be fine. FH and I haven't been able to make any going away plans for almost all of the rest of the summer because we don't want to accidentally book something on the weekend of the shower. To make matters worse, FMIL is ALSO planning a "surprise" shower in their home state, the only difference is she made the mistake of telling FH who told me. That's probably why my sisters won't tell him anything haha