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"I had only heard of one incidence of a &amp;quot;virtual&amp;quot; shower in the past, and that was a &amp;quot;virtual&amp;quot; baby shower. But a Facebook friend just mentioned getting an invite to a &amp;quot;virtual&amp;quot; bridal shower, so I fear the phenomenon is catching on. Ladies, this is a major DON&amp;#x27;T. When my first friend was invited to the &amp;quot;virtual&amp;quot; baby shower, we were both confused. She forwarded me the invite, which was just a regular email that went something like this: &amp;quot;Rather than ask our friends and family members travel, we&amp;#x27;ve decided to host a &amp;#x27;virtual&amp;#x27; baby shower, so everyone could welcome our baby without spending a day in the car.&amp;quot; And then there was a link to their baby registry. I asked if there was some sort of group Skype gathering (like &amp;quot;The Skype Table&amp;quot; on Happy Endings!) or maybe if the guests were supposed to sign up for a time to video chat the mom and dad, but the only &amp;quot;virtual&amp;quot; shower-like activity seemed to be buying the couple a gift. The shower &amp;quot;date&amp;quot; was the date the email went out to the baby&amp;#x27;s due date, so our impression was, once you had shopped off the registry, your participation in the shower was done. WHAAAAAT? Look, I get that not every bride (or every new mom) wants a shower. I would&amp;#x27;ve passed both times if showers weren&amp;#x27;t SO important to my mom. But if you skip the shower (and the small talk and the forced smiles and the opening of gifts in front of a crowd that comes with it) you also have to forgo the shower gifts. People can still get you a shower gift (I would!) and they&amp;#x27;re probably happy not to travel, but asking for a shower gift when there&amp;#x27;s no shower is just awful. A &amp;quot;virtual&amp;quot; shower is not a cutesy alternative to a regular shower, unless there are some other &amp;quot;virtual&amp;quot; activities outside of gift-buying. It&amp;#x27;s fine to set up a registry at any point after you get engaged. Having a registry doesn&amp;#x27;t make you a gift-grabber. But you cannot (CANNOT) arbitrarily email a link to your registry to your wedding guests, just to let them know it exists on the off-chance they want to buy you a gift. It&amp;#x27;s ridiculousness like this (and &amp;quot;The Honeymoon Fund&amp;quot;*) that makes people think brides are c-r-a-z-y. *Read the Honeymoon Fund post before yelling at me. It&amp;#x27;s probably NOT what you think. Ladies, what do you think: Are &amp;quot;virtual&amp;quot; showers the most awful development in modern weddings? Or are you sort of okay with them? More miscellaneous wedding stuff: * Should Parents Spend the Same on Each Child&amp;amp;#8217;s Wedding? * If You&amp;amp;#8217;re Having a Cash Shower, Don&amp;amp;#8217;t Invite Me! * Do You Get Kind of Weirded Out When You Hear an Ex Is Getting Married? Photo: Thinkstock"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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