Wedding showers, or bridal showers as they are also known as, are a popular tradition in the U.S. especially, although it is said that the first origins of this tradition can be traced back to the 1800s in Belgium. Today it has become a highly popular tradition in the U.S. and Canada primarily. A bridal or wedding shower is where all the bride's closest girl friends and especially her bridesmaids gather to throw her a party before her big day.

Hosted and organized by the maid of honor, all of the brides' closest friends will gather together and shower her with an assortment of gifts, which usually consist of items she could use after the wedding. And like most parties, wedding showers have wedding shower themes, which will be the responsibility of the maid of honor to come up with.

A wedding reception is another celebration, except this is for everybody and it is done after the wedding. The reception is commonly held after the entire wedding ceremony is over, and all those who attended the wedding would get together and celebrate the success of another joyous event. Unlike the wedding shower, the wedding reception is hosted by the bride and groom for all the guests present to sort of show thanks for the support they have given them leading up to their wedding.

And unlike the wedding shower, no gifts are given or necessary during the wedding reception because the reception is just an after-party and the main purpose is merely to celebrate and have fun. But just like the wedding shower, wedding receptions can also have wedding reception themes.

Let's take a look at some of the wedding shower themes first of all and take a look at some of the themes you could consider if you are planning on hosting one. Some examples of themes are like the classic Tea Party theme, where the guests can experience what attending a high team party would be like, being served with tea, scones and finger foods. Another option for wedding shower themes is perhaps a Garden Party theme, where the party could be hosted in whoever's house has a beautiful garden or backyard filled with fresh flowers and beautiful outdoor landscape.

Another way to go for wedding shower themes is perhaps a Favorite Memories theme, where the guests come up with a collection of the bride's all time favorite memories and present it to her either in the form of a collage, a mini video clip or something along those lines. This is actually a good idea in terms of wedding shower themes because it is touching and the bride-to-be will be sure to love it. Those are just some examples and there are plenty of other themes out there for you to pick and choose from.

Wedding reception themes would usually co-ordinate with the overall wedding theme you are going with in the first place. Usually it is because the bride and groom will be so busy what with planning, organizing and running around trying to get everything organized before the wedding that they really don't have much time to go about planning separate wedding reception themes altogether, so it is usually easier to just go with the already set theme for the wedding, assuming you are having a wedding theme to begin with.

But if you do want to have separate wedding reception themes, like the wedding shower there are a few different themes you could look at. You could go for the Outdoor Reception theme for example, where you host the reception outdoors in a large garden venue decorated with gorgeous outdoor lights and settings. If you are hosting a seasonal wedding, then the wedding reception themes could be Seasonal themes too, and you can choose from spring, summer, autumn or winter wedding themes of your choice.

The examples listed are just some of the options of themes available to you for hosting the wedding shower and the wedding reception. There are plenty of other themes available and if you are stuck for ideas on coming up with a theme of your own, you could always Google it and get pages and pages of wedding theme options right at your fingertips. So go ahead and have fun planning your themed parties now that you know where to get some really fantastic ideas from.