On Saturday night, after a whirlwind day involving very nearly missing my flight back from San Antonio, the Boy and I got gussied up and went to the bridal shower for the lovely lady who set us up. Now, usually, my initial response to bridal shower invitations is, “Kill me.” Kill me right now before I’m forced to make a wedding dress out of toilet paper or watch the bride’s former sorority sister decorate her with bows removed from gifts she’s just taken an hour to open because everyone has to have equal time to oooh and ahhh over things like… mixing bowls. Really, people? REALLY? Kill me and get it over with before the bride’s older female relatives make creepy/awkward sexual innuendos while I’m eating. Seriously, just do it and make it quick.
But in this case… well, it turns out I’m not the only cold-hearted harpie out there because it seems there’s been a revolution. And out of the rubble and flaming Charmin veils has emerged a strange and beautiful phenomenon known as The Couples Shower. The Couples Shower serves the same function as the traditional hellish experience (i.e. the bride-to-be and her man get gifted with all the goodies from Bed Bath & Beyond) only, there’s no ceremonious unwrapping. No games. Just finger food and a whole lot of drinking. There’s even mixed company!
And Heather saw that it was good. (She also saw four glasses of champagne and a bowl of peanut M&Ms.)
At some point during the evening – and this was long before the sweet haziness of champagne – the photographer began assembling groups of people in front of the fireplace for photos. The happy couple. The married couples. All the ladies. Click, click, flash flash. You know how it goes. Then suddenly, the camera man has gathered up the Boy’s parents, his sister and her boyfriend of eight years and I hear someone is calling my name. Oh yes, we did. We had a family portrait taken. After three or four weeks of dating. And it was not nearly as awkward as it should have been. True, I can pretty much roll with anything and sort out the weirdness later (that’s what the blog is for, after all), but that the Boy didn’t seem ruffled in the slightest, well, Heather saw that that was good, too.
Wow, and I thought I was the only woman/harpie who felt that way about showers! Bridal showers – yeech! Baby showers – double yeech!! I actually get sick to my stomach when I get a little envelope in the mail addressed only to me. I dread opening it. And I know that as I am opening it, my husband is quietly laughing behind my back, because he does not have to go! Wait until I tell him about the “couples shower”. I only hope that we get invited to one soon! Sounds like you had a great time.
My Mom and my best gal pal threw me a shower this weekend. It must be a revolution because we too, thankfully, had no silly games but instead barbecue and pleanty to drink. Viva La Revolucion!
I’ve never heard of this Couples Shower thing, but I love it!
The Boy sounds way cool =)
I’m loving this boy. I’m sure not as much as you are, but he does sound cool, enjoy!
As a fellow bridal/baby shower hater, I commend your friends on an excellent party. More people should follow suit.
This boy sounds like a keeper…
is this the same boy from the blind date that you wrote about before?
I love this post. Glad for you on the boy.
I love the parenthetical phrase about champagne and peanut M&Ms. I might have snorted.
Congrats on the Boy and congrats on having friends who understand that showers are usually only fun for the Showeree…
I still have a coupla photos of guys who did not make the cut. It’s good to remember.
please, please, please let the revolution extend to the baby shower!! If I have to ooh and aah over one more diaper genie or bippie (boppie?) I may scream!!!
Yay for you and the Boy Acquisition!
Making your way to the bottom of a champagne bottle ain’t half bad either…Brava!
Aww this was an incredibly cute post. And I would much rather attend a shower like that! I actually haven’t experienced any painful ones yet, though, so shouldn’t preemptively complain.
The boyfriend and I started doing family holidays together (which always seem to lead to the family portraits) about 2 months in. Over a year later it continues to be a smidgen awkward (especially because my family just doesn’t take pictures like that, significant others involved or not)…but also makes me feel wonderfully included. It really sounds like you found someone special…”dorkiness” very much included.
Am I the only one seeing The Dork Lord carrying a light saber and Fish dressed like Leia?
“Charmin wedding dress?!? I’d rather kiss a Wookie.”
@(^_^)@
(PRE-brother/sister reveal, of course)
Yes, it’s better than the usual crappy showers, but it’s still just a way to ask for gifts they will never use anyway.
Wow – that IS good. Always a test, the taking of the family portraits. I had some taken recently as part of my still-relatively-new family and it’s still a new experience, and I’m married to the guy!!
Wow – that IS good. Always a test, the taking of the family portraits. I had some taken recently as part of my still-relatively-new family and it’s still a new experience, and I’m married to the guy!!
Congrats on finding a great guy to date! The shower sounds almost human. Yes, shower games should stay back in history where they belong.
Congrats on finding a great guy to date! The shower sounds almost human. Yes, shower games should stay back in history where they belong.
That is indeed good news – I’m glad it went well!!
Something about turning 30 and no longer giving a crap about what other people think of me has relieved me of attending showers, weddings, and funerals… if I don’t want to go, I just don’t go.
I always figure with “family” photos taken with boyfriends, just make sure you are on the end so they can cut you out later:)
Katie Lauren
I LOVE THIS! Sure, the shower thing is cute and fun, but I know exactly what you’re talking about with the “this should be weird but it isn’t thing” with your new man.
On our THIRD date, my now fiance (yay!) and I ran into his parents, and they had already “heard all about me.” Normally that would worry me… that he was a crazy stalker or something. But because he’s THE ONE (yay!) it only made me feel flattered.
Cheers to more moments like that!
blah blah blah…have you farted in front of him yet?
Couples showers are wrong. This is not something men do. This is not something they want to do. The Groom has to pretend to care about the gifts, the process of opening the gifts, the oohs and ahs, and all the rest. Ands it’s even worse for the guys who just get to sit and watch. I think it only really came about because so many women hated having showers, so rather than simply not going or saying no, they decided to drag us into it.
The next step is couples with cats showers. Besides men, cats are most likely the only sentient being less interested in attending showers.
Couple showers are the only way to go, as long as they are done right –
Wrong: dragging the unwilling groom-to-be to a frilly brunch place where he and all other unwilling males vainly search for a tv or radio which might be picking up “the game” (since there is always some sports event being played somewhere).
Right: an excuse for a party where the happy couple gets to hang out with their friends and celebrate the future, without a gift or tea sandwich in sight.
When done right, the couple shower can be a ton of fun and honor the fact that these two crazies for whom the party is being thrown are gonna attempt to continue to like each other and share the same bathroom for the rest of their lives – no small feat.