Bride-to-be Shelby (in white) surrounded by her "Fab 5" bridesmaids!
Planning a bridal shower? You’ve come to the right place! Today’s reader-submitted bridal shower took place in Detroit and is filled with fun, fashion and a good dose of frugalness. The bride Shelby, who is a big fan of vintage-shopping, wed in a destination affair in Jamaica on August 30th but her forever friend Jamishia (who submitted the pics to Triple B) and the rest of the bridal party threw their girl a bridal shower to remember before the island nuptials. Besides this shower being creative and stylish, what is most impressive — and refreshing — is the genuine sisterhood it embodies. Enjoy! 

Black Bridal Bliss: When and where did the bridal shower take place?
Jamishia: It was held at Detroit Seafood Market located in the Harmonie Park area. We hosted the bridal shower on Saturday, July 12th in the bride’s hometown of Detroit. When we were selected as her bridesmaids, Shelby gave us two requests — for the shower to be “classy” and around her birthday (July 15th) — so we went with the 12th of July. We knew it would be a largely attended shower because of the wedding being away in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

BBB: You guys included Shelby’s mom in the shower as well which is nice.
J: We knew both Shelby’s mother and grandmother were very special women in her life. She got her appreciation of vintage shopping from them. We also made sure to include her future mother-in-law– Mrs. Wilder. Shelby has grown close to her during her courtship with her husband and wanted Mrs. Wilder to be “officially welcomed” into Shelby’s circle. We created a head table where all three of these women sat with Shelby.


BBB: How many people were in Shelby’s bridal party and did you all help plan the shower?
J: There were five of us in her bridal party and we affectionately call ourselves the “Fab 5”. We have known Shelby for a long time so by default we all had good relationships. Tiffany and Tyne (identical twins) are her cousins, Ericka and Shelby met around age 3, Shelby and I met in elementary school, lived on the same street and attended high school together and Shelby met Ashli in college and pledged a sorority (Alpha Kappa Alpha) with her.

Planning was an undertaking because the five of us are perfectionists, sort of “girlie girls” and love Shelby. We spent hours going through every detail. Ashli and I live out of state–so we depended on two hour plus conference calls to fine-tune details. We also had a “Bridal Party” brunch with Shelby soon after her engagement to get things started and to reconnect with each other. We wanted to make sure our synergy was together. Shelby felt we took into consideration her likes with every moment of the bridal shower.

[cincopa AEFAlB8XiyNJ]

[All images by Tiffany Goliday]

BBB: Did Shelby also have a bachelorette party?
J: Yes due to Ashli and I living out of state, we decided to make the weekend both her bridal shower and bachelorette celebration. After the bridal shower– we kept the celebration going by surprising her with a girls overnight trip. We booked a suite in a hotel in downtown Detroit. We had food catered, drinks and a few games in the suite with just the bridal party. A few hours later we began our Bachelorette Crawl to some of her favorite “single club” venues including the spot she met her soon-to-be husband. She didn’t know anything about where we were taking her. We owned the club and everyone even had their own “Shelby-Inspired” drinks. Shelby had a ball dancing the night away. We ended her bachelorette weekend at a popular brunch spot located right in the hotel.

BBB: Please share any budget tips you applied when planning Shelby’s shower.
J: 1) We got started early in the planning process. We searched high and low before finding a venue to provide the right “vintage feel”. We used our resources to negotiate a great price. We did a brunch to avoid higher dinner costs and we did a smaller menu (5 items). We even negotiated unlimited mimosas for the attendees.
2.) We utilized our own talents. The twins made most of the paper products and some decorations. We patronized some of Shelby’s invited guests for services and received discounts. This was their gift to Shelby so it helped our budget tremendously. We also called in favors from some creative folks. Many of us have people who owe us favors and/or love our stinking undies and would do anything to make us happy. Anything is possible on a budget. We even found some of the decorations on Dollar Tree’s website and made it work!
3.) Let’s face it, being in a wedding can be expensive. Each of us knew a year in advance that we would have to host her bridal shower and bachelorette activities so we each had our ways of starting a “savings jar/fund”. We all planned ahead of time for both the wedding travel and bridal shower expenses. It wasn’t as bad with actual savings to help.


What is your most memorable bridal shower memory? Get tips on planning a budget-friendly potluck bridal shower here!