Who do I invite to a Bridal Shower?

Maybe ask your bridesmaid how many people she feels comfortable hosting and go from there.

I'm inviting local women who are also invited to the wedding. Really just close friends and family.

Why would you not invite someone if they had money issues? A few of my really close family members have money issues, but I wouldnt exclude them from something.

In my mind the shower is really meant for the women who are closest to you and have played a significant role in your life.

Bridal showers feel awkward to me, honestly, and I almost wasn't going to have one. The idea of inviting someone to give me a present makes me feel all kinds of weird. If I already know someone is struggling, I just feel like I'm pressuring them.

I had my bridesmaids, my aunts and few close church friends. Maybe 15 at the most.

Traditionally, it was all the women invited to the wedding and that's still a "safe" way to do it. But you definitely don't have to invite all the female guests and can keep it smaller. I had a large shower - I think we invited 50 guests and had about 35 attend. I didn't invite all the women that were coming to my wedding - for example, my husband's female friends from college or his friend's girlfriends who I didn't know very well. You're right that many OOT guests won't come to your shower BUT my mom and I frequently will travel out of state for showers for family members and many of my OOT family members came to mine as well, so that's not always the case.

Since you have such a small guest list anyway, I would just invite all the women you are inviting to your wedding.

Local women and women who are close to you (close relatives who are local, friends, etc). If you live in Ohio and have a cousin who lives in Arizona, don't invite her. That appears gift-grabby.

Yes, ask how many they would like to host. Then invite people close to you. I am only inviting women in my bridal party and aunts that live close by that I speak to regularly. So about 12-13 people.

I think mine will have about 30 invited (our total guest list is 140). The 30 consists of the few friends I've invited, my bridesmaids, my aunts/grandma and FH's aunt, all the mothers (my mom, step-mom and FH's mom). The only girls I'm really excluding is all of my cousins on my dad's side because they are all under 18 years old and my mom is offering her house as the location so in order to keep awkwardness to a minimum for my mom, I'm only having my step mom/aunts/grandma from my dad's side.

My bridesmaids, close family, and close friends were invited. I think 43 were invited and 27 came.

I just wanted to invite people that I was really close with, because opening presents from people I barely know in front of them seemed like it would be super awkward.

I invited close family members of both mine and FH, a couple of close friends, and a couple of family friends. 35 people, including myself and the shower hosts. I expect maybe 15-20 to attend. I did extend invited to OOT family members who I knew couldn't come (ex: FH's paternal grandmother), because I knew they would be upset if they weren't included. ETA: I wouldn't include anyone because of money issues. If you have things on your registry at a variety of price points, they should be able to find something in their budget if they choose to attend. But that should be their decision, not yours.

We have 79 people on our guest list for our wedding. I invited about 30 to the shower. It's not all the female guests. Some of the women are close to FH and I've never met them or are not close with them so they were not included. I just thought about who I wanted to spend time with and they got the invite. Also, don't not invite someone because you think it would be inconvenient for them. It is rude and hurts feelings. I had friends in high school that used to not invite me to things because I lived across town. Finding out they did things without me and didn't even bother to invite me hurt. If the people love you they will want to celebrate with you. They don't have to get you a gift, they just have to be there.

Ask the host how many people they can accommodate and, from there, make a list of your nearest and dearest female family members and friends who can fit in the allotted number of guests.

I'm currently in this situation- my aunts are hosting my shower and one told me to give her the names and addresses of every woman invited. My FH doesn't even know the names of some of the wives of his friends (men are weird) so I'm not sure if I would want to invite them to a shower. Most likely, they would decline since a) they've never met me either and possibly never met my FH if they don't go to baseball games, b) if I was in their situation I would feel totally awkward at a shower for someone I barely know, and c) they all have kids under 10 so I'm certain family things will be going on for them too.

Glad you posted this though, I'm sure you and I are not the only brides thinking about this!

I have this same problem. My mom is hosting my bridal shower but she doesn't want to have too many people there (< 30). She's inviting FI's sisters and aunts but not his female cousins. But she is inviting all of her old friends, most of whom I didn't even consider inviting to the wedding. Now I'm wonder if this is more like my mom throwing a party to celebrate my wedding with her friends, and does this mean I have to invite these women to the wedding?