Bridal Shower

Looking for name change advice or some tips for newlywed life? The MissNowMrs experts have created state-specific name change articles and checklists for you. We’ve chronicled our recommendations for how to travel while changing your name AND how to handle voting during the transition.

We’ve also compiled our best guidance for how to handle difficult sister in laws, holidays as newlyweds, the ever-annoying baby questions, and much more. Why? Because, while we are name change experts, we’re also newlywed wives, moms, and sisters.

We hope our name change advice articles help smooth your transition to your new name, and a whole new phase of life. Congratulations and best wishes from the entire MissNowMrs team!

The Panty Game

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Engagement season is in full swing and you newlyweds know what that means…..bridal showers! Big, small, fancy, casual, almost anything goes for showers these days, which can be fun or overwhelming. How does one throw a unique shower that the bride will love? The panty game is a great start!

I ran across the Panty Game on Pinterest and thought it was a cute idea.Every guest wraps a pair of panties that reflects their personal style and as the bride opens them she has to guess who they’re from. It’s an amusing game and the bride ends up with fun undies for newlywed life. The best part will be seeing what the grandmas purchase (you’d be surprised!)

If your newly engaged friend’s family is a bit too straight laced for the game you can use it at her bachelorette party. Truth be told, my bachelorette party had a lingerie theme and I made my husband guess which ensemble was from which friend on our honeymoon (it was fun and naughty!)

Did you play the panty game at your shower or are you planning to play it at friend’s this year? You could also use the Panty Game for your next birthday to keep newlywed life hot.

If the bride-to-be is thinking about changing her name. Be sure to share this 20 Step Name Change Checklist with her!

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April Showers: Part II

April showers do bring May flowers, but rain isn’t the only kind of shower happening this time of year. As we continue into April, the number of bridal and baby showers on the calendar tends to rise. What’s a newlywed girl to shop for when she’s attending an absurd number of these events? We’ve compiled the best gifts for both types of showers to make this Spring a little simpler for you.

Baby Showers
If you don’t have a baby these parties can make you feel a little awkward. What ARE you supposed to buy an unborn child? Fortunately, you can usually look on Babies R Us or BuyBuyBaby for your friend’s registry. Still uninspired? Here are the Top 5 Baby Shower Gifts:

1. Little Lamb Swing – Chip in with a few friends for this amazing piece of baby technology. It rocks a cranky little one to sleep in 2 different directions, buying your friend some much needed down time as a new mommy. My son used it until he literally couldn’t fit into it anymore!

2. Video Monitor – Being able to flip a switch and make sure your bundle of joy is still breathing is priceless (especially since you won’t wake him/her up)!

3. Boppy Pillow – It may sound like a ridiculous item, but these pillows keep your friend’s arms from falling off. The Boppy allows the new parents to feed/hold/cuddle their child hands-free.

4. A Prenatal Massage – While it’s great to buy goodies for the newborn, your soon-to-be mommy friend could probably use a little something for her. Purchase a gift card at a local spa, but be sure that they offer pregnancy massages. You friend will never forget how thoughtful you were when she feels 40 pounds lighter and can actually sleep after her treatment!

5. Customized Anything – Seeing your little angel’s name printed on something is precious. Red Envelope has a ton of great personalized baby gifts to choose from…the baby keepsake kit is one of the the best.

Bridal Showers
You should be a pro at bridal showers since you just had one! However, if you’re attending several showers it’s nice to have a few extra gift ideas up your sleeve. Here are our Top 5 Picks:
1. Anything On Her Registry – Plates may seem boring to you, but your friend took the time to register for them and will probably end up buying the remaining ones for herself post-wedding if you don’t purchase them. Creativity usually gets kudos, but a completed registry is awesome for a bride!
2. Bridal Lingerie – When you’re paying for a wedding, little things like cute honeymoon undies can seem frivolous. Help a gal pal (and her soon-to-be-hubby) out with a gift from Victoria’s Secret. *Please note who will be in attendance at the shower before you present your gift. It might be wise to give it to the bride before or after the party.
3. Candle Poem Basket – If you’re looking for a very personal gift that scores high on thoughtfulness and low on price, this is the perfect idea for you.
4. A MissNowMrs.com Gift Card – Make the bride in your life’s name-change a snap. She’ll save 13 hours of hassle and research by using this amazing online service!
5. Cash – It might seem a little tacky to give a check as a shower gift, but you can be sure that it will get used! Consider writing a message on the memo line that says your gift is for something fun on the honeymoon or a pedicure before the Big Day.

What were your best bridal shower and baby shower gifts? Do you have a gift that you always give to a bride/mommy-to-be? We’d love to know!

Newly Married & All Wedding’ed Out

Have you and your spouse found yourselves to be all wedding’ed out!? I’m not talking about feelings of exhaustion from your own wedding, but suddenly now everyone you know is getting engaged and shower and wedding invitations are flooding your mail box! Everyone seems to say the same thing, that if you’re one of the first of your friends to get married, you will have one “golden” year where you will find yourself loading up your calendar with showers, bachelorette parties and weddings to attend.

Of course you are so excited for your friends, and look forward to sharing this special time with them and helping with preparations for their special day, but you may also find yourself feeling somewhat overwhelmed, and unfortunately not being able to accept all invites due to other schedule conflicts, and not to mention the obvious… budgetary restraints.

My husband and I have now attended 4 weddings so far this year and still have another 5 remaining in 2010! Is it selfish of me to want a vacation of my own? Well I’ve come to grips that it’s not going to happen this year, so my husband and I have promised each other that we’re going somewhere fabulous in 2011!

With so many weddings, and your free weekends becoming well… non-existent, how do you choose when to decline some invites, and… if you have mutual friends, when is it OK to decline some and accept others?! This is becoming an on-going, harder-to-handle issue as you certainly don’t want to create hard feelings!

There are a few obvious questions that come into play when making your decision on whether or not to accept your invite! Are you available that weekend? How far away is the wedding (is it a destination wedding with plane tickets and a car rental), and can you afford it? Is it a family member’s wedding? Did you invite them to your wedding? Did they attend your wedding?

I have recognized one thing when making your decision to attend or regretfully decline… Remember to make your decision based on logical factors, not based on whether or not that couple attended your wedding! Even if you’re not the best of friends, the couple must have thought highly enough of you in the first place to put you on their guest list, so you should take a moment to decide on how to mark your reply card. Sometimes you will be forced to decline if you have a conflicting event or just don’t have the funds, but do be sure to mail a card! It is considered courteous and acceptable to send a card and/or gift up to six months after the wedding date.

Remember, it’s an honor to be invited to someone’s wedding, so always be sure to handle your response with care… but above and beyond anything, be sure to respond! There’s nothing more awkward and annoying for a bride and groom than having to call guests who didn’t respond! So hang in there if you’re trudging through your golden year of weddings, and do yourself a favor and keep a photo book of the weddings you attend… its fun to reminisce about these events down the road!

How have you handled being all wedding’ed out? We’d love to hear your solutions in a comment.