A Shower By Any Other Name...

We have some more reader mail! Today's question comes from Marget, J's sister. She's a bridesmaid at a friend's wedding this summer, and is helping to plan a couples shower at a park in June. She writes:

"Actually, invitations have proved tricky - the groom is against any use of the word 'shower' because he finds it emasculating. I've found some very cute shower invitations, but you don't have the option of editing all of the text. Short of getting formal custom invitations, we'd still like to have personal invitations printed."

I spent some time browsing through my favorite invitation designers, and have come up with a few options. All prices include envelopes, they are all flat-printed, and all text is completely customizable (and most of the colors are, as well). Here they are, from least expensive to most.

Wedding Paper Divas is an unbelievable site for inexpensive, high style invites.


Solid Monogram Signature (25 cards and 35 envelopes for $33.50)


Budding Branches (25 cards and 35 envelopes for $34.75)


Rich Floral (25 cards and 35 envelopes for $33.50)


Modern Dots (25 cards and 35 envelopes for $33.50)

Up next: Minted! Another one of my favorite invitation options, this site aggregates some of the most talented boutique designers and presents them in one easy-to-navigate spot, Minted.com.


Opera invitation by Cococello (25 cards and 25 envelopes for $67)


La Fete invitation by Oscar + Emma (25 cards and 25 envelopes for $65)

Finally, we have Hello! Lucky. I've always admired their stunning letterpress invites, so was incredibly excited to see them debut a line of digitally-printed pieces. Note: These are all wedding invitations, but because the text is fully customizable, they can easily become shower invitations.


New York City Skyline invite (25 cards and 35 envelopes for $93)


Visit New York invite (25 cards and 35 envelopes for $93)


Oak invite (25 cards and 35 envelopes for $93)


Home Sweet Home invite (25 cards and 35 envelopes for $93)

And this is just a small sampling from each of these sites! There are so many more designs to choose from, and, because most of the designs here are available in at least four different color combinations, the possibilities really are endless.

Lastly, after just a little bit of searching, I came up with a few non-traditional options for invitation wording.

"The pleasure of your company is requested at an event in honor of ___ and ____"

"Please join us in showering ___ and ____ with love and best wishes at a party in their honor"

"We would be delighted if you would join us at a party in honor of ____ and ____"

"The bridesmaids of _____ and _____ invite you to a party in honor of their marriage" (Careful, the "their" could get a bit confusing here!)

I hope this helps!