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Bridal shower. A gathering held in honor of the bride before the wedding, traditionally hosted by the maid or matron of honor or by close friends or family (not by the bride's own immediate family). Includes the giving of gifts, typically lighter and more personal than the wedding-day registry gifts.
Where the term comes from
The bridal shower as an organized event traces to the 16th and 17th centuries in Northern Europe, often as a practical response to underclass brides whose families could not provide a dowry; gifts assembled at the shower performed a dowry-equivalent function. The modern American shower form was codified during the 20th century; the convention that the bride's own mother does not host is older still, traceable to early-modern etiquette.
How it shows up in real life
Six weeks before the wedding, the maid of honor hosts a Saturday-afternoon shower at her home: a dozen women, a light lunch, lemonade and prosecco, and gifts. The bride opens each gift in the room as the giver watches. The gifts are personal rather than mechanical: a kitchen apron the bride had admired, a hand-thrown bowl, monogrammed napkins. The convention is for the gifts to feel chosen rather than ordered.
Common misuses
Hosting one's own bridal shower is a long-standing etiquette breach because of the implicit request-for-gifts that follows; the host should be a close non-relative, with the exception of close friends who are not in the wedding party. Inviting people who have not been invited to the wedding itself is the other recurring etiquette error; shower invitations should be a subset of wedding invitations, not a separate or wider list.
