has anyone ever heard of this?

a friend of mine from work was telling me about her daughter's shower. apparently this bride has about 10 bridesmaids and they decided that when it was time to open the presents, that they were going to do it 'the way they always did' and open the presents for the bride, then hand them to her!

has anyone ever heard of this?

IMO part of the reason people come to a shower - and expend effort wrapping your present/having it wrapped - is so they can see the look on the bride's face when she opens it! am i wrong? have things changed?

now don't get me wrong - i have heard of showers where the gifts are wrapped in clear cellophane so that the bride doesn't have to open her gifts there (don't like that idea either but that's just me). but this seemed a little crazy to me.

like i said, JMO.

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Posted by PattyK

I have never heard of that. Part of the fun at a shower is the bride opening gifts and seeing her reaction and someone making the bow hat.

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yes - the bow hat! i loooved opening all my presents (what girl doesn't) and i plan on rocking my bow hat at the RD

That doesn't sound like it would be much fun for the guests to see someone other than the bride open the gifts. People are really coming up with some strange ideas.

I've heard of the bridesmaids 'starting' for the bride..like take the bow off and maybe rip the paper a lil bit, but never completely unwrapping the gifts.

I actually needed a lot of help at my shower opening gifts because I am pregnant, and I was sick and supposed to be on bedrest! Other than that, I love opening gifts!!

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Posted by Kurtsk8

I've heard of the bridesmaids 'starting' for the bride..like take the bow off and maybe rip the paper a lil bit, but never completely unwrapping the gifts.

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yeah at the last 2 showers i went to--i did this....like starting unwrapping it by undoing the ends or something to make the presents go by faster---but not completely taking it off, that seems silly to me

I've seen this done at a few showers. I'm not a huge fan of it, but, it does speed things along if necessary.

My girls just helped me a little bit with the presents and at the end, they started opening them for me because we were running out of time.

I've been to showers where this was done, and I don't like it. Neither does my sis.
Why bother wrapping the gift then ?

I got really upset earlier this year when at a friend's shower this happened - her BM's ripped open the packages and just handed her the card and the unwrapped gift. Now, I went to a lot of trouble to wrap the gift and decorate it so that it looked like a wedding cake. And the bride to be didn't get to see it. BUT when it came time for the BMs' gifts, those they left wrapped when the handed them to the bride.

At my shower, I opened ALL of my own gifts, and my 6 year old niece (FG) helped me take the paper off and handed the bows and ribbons to the girl making the bo-k.

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Posted by SusiBtoM

I've been to showers where this was done, and I don't like it. Neither does my sis.
Why bother wrapping the gift then ?

I got really upset earlier this year when at a friend's shower this happened - her BM's ripped open the packages and just handed her the card and the unwrapped gift. Now, I went to a lot of trouble to wrap the gift and decorate it so that it looked like a wedding cake. And the bride to be didn't get to see it. BUT when it came time for the BMs' gifts, those they left wrapped when the handed them to the bride.

At my shower, I opened ALL of my own gifts, and my 6 year old niece (FG) helped me take the paper off and handed the bows and ribbons to the girl making the bo-k.

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oh i am sorry the bride didn't get to see your wedding cake present! that was kind of my point - some guests go to a lot of trouble to wrap their gifts nicely/uniquely - and then the BMs decide that they are going to tear into them? the way my friend told the story, it didn't seem like it was the bride's decision - but when my friend objected, the bride said 'mom, this is how we do things.'

i would have told my BMs - get the ^*@#!@$# from my presents!!

Never ever heard of this. I guess if there were a LOOOT of guests this would make sense, but for an average shower, there's no need and I think it takes away from the guests - they don't see the bride's reaction when she opens the present!

I know I had one person who specifically had her gifts wrapped in my wedding colors and wanted me to see - had my BM's opened my gifts, I never would have seen. Just an example.

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Posted by pupidda122505

We did this at my shower and I've seen it done at every single shower I have ever attended. The bridesmaids opened my gifts and would hand me each one indivdually. I read the card first out loud to state who the gift is from and then held up the box to show everyone and sometimes depending on the gift, open the box to show the gift better for stuff like china or crystal. IMO I like doing it this way because it saves ALOT of time and it's just meant to have the process be as easy as possible for the bride to be.

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ditto - i never thought of it as rude, i was actually surprised to read this bc that is just how i have always seen it done - and i thought that was how everyone does it! LOL

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Posted by Kurtsk8

I've heard of the bridesmaids 'starting' for the bride..like take the bow off and maybe rip the paper a lil bit, but never completely unwrapping the gifts.

I actually needed a lot of help at my shower opening gifts because I am pregnant, and I was sick and supposed to be on bedrest! Other than that, I love opening gifts!!

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we do the same thing. the bridesmaids 'half open' the gift - as in they take off the ribbons and bows and open the side where the tape is so the bride can just rip the paper off.

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Posted by ant n tilde

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Posted by pupidda122505

We did this at my shower and I've seen it done at every single shower I have ever attended. The bridesmaids opened my gifts and would hand me each one indivdually. I read the card first out loud to state who the gift is from and then held up the box to show everyone and sometimes depending on the gift, open the box to show the gift better for stuff like china or crystal. IMO I like doing it this way because it saves ALOT of time and it's just meant to have the process be as easy as possible for the bride to be.

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ditto - i never thought of it as rude, i was actually surprised to read this bc that is just how i have always seen it done - and i thought that was how everyone does it! LOL

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Yeah, this is how we do it also. It speed things up soooo much. Doesn't take anything away from it in my opinion and I HOPE this is how they do it at my shower also, I'd rather not waste time ripping paper off if it can be done for me to speed up the process.

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Posted by missliss

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Posted by ant n tilde

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Posted by pupidda122505

We did this at my shower and I've seen it done at every single shower I have ever attended. The bridesmaids opened my gifts and would hand me each one indivdually. I read the card first out loud to state who the gift is from and then held up the box to show everyone and sometimes depending on the gift, open the box to show the gift better for stuff like china or crystal. IMO I like doing it this way because it saves ALOT of time and it's just meant to have the process be as easy as possible for the bride to be.

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ditto - i never thought of it as rude, i was actually surprised to read this bc that is just how i have always seen it done - and i thought that was how everyone does it! LOL

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Yeah, this is how we do it also. It speed things up soooo much. Doesn't take anything away from it in my opinion and I HOPE this is how they do it at my shower also, I'd rather not waste time ripping paper off if it can be done for me to speed up the process.

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This is how I did it too. I had over 80 guests at my shower. As it was, it took about 1.5 - 2 hours for me to open my gifts. If I had unwrapped every single gift it would have taken FOREVER. I read the cards aloud but the gift was already mostly unwrapped, I just removed the remainder of it.

NEVER!
No one but the bride should open the presents. I did have one PITA BM who kept grabbing the presents from me when I was done or helped me open some of the presents [on the edges] b/c I have long nails.
But I dunno, IMO, I think its rude!

i am glad to see more responses with the other POV! i was thinking how strange it was, but then i realized that other brides must think how strange it is that the bride has to open all her own presents! i guess, whatever you are used to and comfortable with, is what works best.

just one question for girls whose BMs opened their gifts for them - did the guests say anything or seem to find it strange, or were they used to it being done that way as well?