Decorating Ideas for a Bridal Shower

As you plan the bridal shower, be sure to give careful thought to the decorations. Decorations will be the most important thing for setting the stage for your event. 

Remember the Bride's Interests 

Consider the interests of the bride when you select your theme. Let guests help you decorate by asking them to bring a favorite photo of themselves with the bride (the older the photo, the better) and displaying them on a mantel or table. After the shower, you can make a photo album from the snapshots.

Follow Your Theme

When you've selected a theme for your shower, decorations will help to support your selection. 

Romantic Theme :

Romance is the underlying reason behind all showers, so why not celebrate it in your decorations?

Consider hosting a bridal shower tea party which is perfect for a romantic mood.

Top your tables with pink linens.

Use white napkins that have been pushed through heart-shaped cookie cutters as a napkin ring.

Your centerpiece should reflect the ultimate symbol of romance - a clear vase filled with red roses.

Sprinkle the table with heart shaped confetti in assorted colors of pink, red and silver.

A small heart trinket box that has been wrapped with a red bow is a lovely favor for your guests to bring 

home a little of the romance for themselves.

Create place cards by folding over small paper lace doilies.

A Kitchen Theme which is perfect for a bride who loves cooking :

Get plain white paper table cloths and stamp fruits and vegetables in garden colors around the border.

Create a centerpiece for each table using a stainless steel mixing bowl filled with a seasonal selection of colorful fruit. Alternatively, purchase attractive 6 inch pots and fill with dirt. Place a colorful candle in the center and plant herbs around it.

Give out small spice packets attached to measuring spoons as a favor.

Use recipe cards as place cards.

Tie each napkin with a small piece of twine and insert a miniature whisk under the bow.

Here are shower ideas for a bride who is passionate about the beach :

Cover the tables with blue, white and yellow striped cloths for a nautical feel.

Create seashell napkin rings by gluing miniature seashells around plain wooden or plastic napkin rings.

For this party's centerpiece, fill a clear bowl with blue marbles and water. Place a few starfish along the sides of the marbles so that they are visible from the outside of the bowl. Top with white floating candles.

Tie a length of rope around the back of each chair and glue a cluster of seashells at the point where it ties.

Give each guest a small votive candle holder that you have hand-painted or stamped with seagulls, and fill them with an ocean-scent candle.

Food :

Bridal shower menus are often comprised of finger food recipes that can be enjoyed while guests walk around socializing with one another. That is certainly one way to handle your menu, but a sit down luncheon can work just as well for a small group. Just be sure to leave time for guests to mingle after the meal.

You can have just about any kind of dessert at your bridal shower, but a cake is a fun and pretty way to top off the party. And it's a chance for you to get as creative as you like. 

As luncheons are a popular time for the traditional bridal shower that will include friends and family together, choose from our flavorful lunchtime menus that will put everyone in a celebratory mood.

Table Settings

There’s more to setting a table than knowing where the knives go. There’s your imagination, for instance. The way you add a pop of color or a special detail and suddenly, a quick bite to eat becomes a fun family dinner. Or maybe it’s the way your parties get remembered and talked about long after the fact.

Here are all the details about what you’re putting on your table.

The casual dinner table

For gatherings that are special but still cozy, this approach starts with the basic everyday setting above and adds a salad or bread plate with butter knife on the upper left, wine goblet next to the water glass on the upper right, and napkin to the side. Note that the knife blade always faces in—toward the diner and away from other guests. This symbolically reassures one's neighbor to the right that one does not secretly wish them harm.

The elegant dinner table

Building on the casual dinner setting, add a charger beneath the dinner plate for instant glamour, then position the dessert spoon and fork horizontally and head-to-tail above. A smaller salad fork is placed to the left of the dinner fork. Rule of thumb: Always begin dining with the outside utensil and work your way in, no matter how many pieces there are. When in doubt, look to your host or hostess with big, pleading puppy eyes and shrug your shoulders.

The centerpiece

As if you didn’t have enough to do before a dinner party, there’s still the centerpiece to consider. Phone the florist, create one, or make it easy on yourself and nab a ready-made showpiece. Do keep in mind that, a centerpiece should never block guests’ view of each other across the table. Generally, that means a maximum height of about 12 inches; very tall centerpieces should be placed on a sideboard or sturdy, slender pedestal that won’t obstruct conversation. Do keep width to about 18 inches for a small table, 18-24 inches for a larger table. Don’t limit yourself to a single centerpiece or just flowers—a row of glass hurricanes filled with candles or fruit can have a big impact.

Setting up a buffet

This table-setting business is all well and good if you're having a sit-down dinner. But what about a buffet? Here is a handy diagram for that easy-on-the-hostess approach to dinner parties -

Source - Pier1.com

A Recipe From Our Menu - Mutton Rogan Josh

Rogan Josh is a signature dish from the magnificent state of Kashmir. Brimming with flavors of fennel, ginger and marked by its striking red color, it is a celebration of all senses. Traditional Kashmiri Rogan Josh has a thin sauce layered with a slick of oil on the top. The dish gets its color from a rare spice called Ratanjot and Kashmiri red chili powder.

The signature spices in this dish are hing/asafoetida, fennel seeds and the dried ginger powder, along with a variation of combination of cinnamon, cardamom, and clove. Yogurt is added to add the slight tang and texture to the sauce. The fat in the meat enriches the dish and also allows you to cook with less amount of oil.

Rogan Josh: Kashmiri Mutton Curry with Yogurt and Spices

 Ingredients: (serves 2)

3/4  lb meat (mutton/goat meat/lamb), preferably meat with lot of fat - cut  in 2 inch pieces
scant  3/4 cup yogurt + 2 tablespoon yogurt (yogurt should be well drained or use Greek yogurt)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 green cardamom – powdered (peel the cardamom and grind the seeds to a fine powder either with a mortar & pestle or spice grinder)
2 black cardamom – powdered (peel the cardamom and grind the seeds to a fine powder either with a mortar & pestle or spice grinder)
1 inch stick of cinnamon
2 tejpatta/Indian bay leaf
6 cloves, powdered
3/4 tablespoon saunf/fennel seeds, powdered – divided
1/2 tablespoon sooth/dried ginger powder
a few grinds of fresh black peppercorn
1/2 teaspoon hing/asafoetida powder (a generous pinch if using pure hing)
3 tablespoon Kashmiri red chilli powder or 10 whole red Kashmiri Chilis ground to a paste
4-5  tablespoon pure mustard oil + 1 tablespoon mustard oil
1 teaspoon Garam Masala (homemade or store bought)
fresh cilantro/coriander or fresh mint


Method:

Wash the meat and pat dry. Drizzle the lemon juice, and some salt and toss and allow it sit for about an hour. Add the 2 tablespoon yogurt and 1 tablespoon mustard oil to the meat and marinate it for at least 3 hours. Overnight works better.

If you are not using Greek yogurt, drain  the rest of the yogurt until thick and creamy. Whisk yogurt with red chili powder, half the amount of the green cardamom powder and half amount of the black cardamom powder , all of the ginger powder, half the amount of the fennel seed powder. Set aside.

Heat the mustard oil, or any other oil you are using. Traditionally mustard oil is used and it gives an extra edge to the flavor of the dish, but if you are not used to and do not like it, then just use any cooking oil.

Add the hing/asafoetida to the hot oil. Add the cinnamon, tejpatta/Indian Bay Leaf and the fresh grind of black peppercorn  and saute until aromatic, only a few seconds. When the spices sizzle add the meat to the pan and cook at medium heat, while tossing them occasionally until they start to brown. This will take anywhere between 10-20 minutes.

Now add the powdered clove, rest of the cardamom,  and the rest of the fennel powder . Toss well for the spice mix to coat the meat and cook on low for another 10-15 minutes while scraping the bottom of the pan.

Remove pan from heat. Add a few splashes of water to the oil to cool down the content of the pan.

Wait for a minute and then add the whisked and spiced yogurt a little at a time to the pan and keep stirring it. Keep doing this until you have added the entire yogurt. Put the pan back on the stove in very low heat. Add 1.5 – 2 cups of water ( more if you want more sauce), give it a good stir and tightly cover the pan. Cook until the meat is cooked through and is tender and the oil has separated on the sides. This might take even 2 hours depending on the kind of meat you are using.

Uncover, stir in the Garam Masala. Add and adjust salt. Gently stir everything in and cover it back again until ready to serve.

Add the fresh cilantro or fresh mint if you want just before serving. It is best served over hot steamed white rice.

Serve over hot steamed rice or with flat breads. Enjoy!

Preparation Time: 10-15 minutes

Cooking Time: 1.5-2 hours

Difficulty Level: Intermediate

Serves: 2