The bride gets grilled during her bridal shower trivia game.

“Rain on your wedding day means good luck,” one of my friends said when we looked out the taxi window at the torrential downpour standing between us and our destination last weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“That’s just something a bitter bride made up that caught on,” my friend responded before stepping out of the car to make a dash into the restaurant.

“No holding back” describes the rest of our evening bridal shower celebrating Angie’s upcoming nuptials to her groom, Lion.

I should’ve known with this group that the shower would be a success, but I still didn’t anticipate quite that much laughter. I haven’t been to a shower at such a classy locale before—mostly I’ve just been to showers hosted in homes, and this place actually made me consider where I was putting my elbows. The cocktails all had cool names, and one was named for the maid of honor’s mother.

Despite our evening dresses and delicious wine, it wasn’t the snazzy that made the party. I’ve tried to pinpoint the best parts for incorporation into the shower I’m planning right now for my other bride friend, Ducky. It can’t all be planned, but here are some of the things that worked:

• Having other women to talk about. One of our close friends was recently married, another is about to get married this summer, and the bride’s sister has been married for a few years. In addition to chatting about rings and comparing limousine mishaps, having young, married women in attendance provides another thrill: hawking over who’s drinking and who’s not throughout the course of the shower.

• Bridal-shower games. As I noted in a previous post, bridal-shower games do provide hilarity. Even if the only questions I got right were what the highest-quality color of diamond is and why brides originally started carrying floral bouquets (to mask body odor), I learned a lot about wedding traditions.

• Really cool relatives. Being able to celebrate with moms, sisters, and friends of the family who are welcoming and fun makes all the difference to non-family guests. Angie’s family members were all good for a laugh even when special gift boxes with lacy things inside were opened. If only the moms had come to the bachelorette party that evening—we would’ve needed a lot more photos.

• Longtime friends. Only in a group like that can you place bets for the rest of the evening on who will take home what bachelorette-party honor. Most likely to end up dancing on a table? Roadrunner, who looked like she was itching to dance right on top of our plates the moment the suggestion popped out of my mouth. Most likely to bust out naughty party games? Wrigley, who I can’t blame, because she needs hobbies that will keep her warm in the Windy City.

• A funny fiancé. No, Lion wasn’t invited to the ladies’ evening, but he did supply answers to a great trivia game coordinated by the maid of honor. Though hilarious and endearingly off-base on occasion, hearing things such as “Our wedding song is by some old guy, maybe Dean Martin” no doubt impressed the bride. And don’t worry, grooms, we know you don’t notice wedding colors: “Some kind of flower that matches some kind of dress” sounds about right.

Katie, a local bridesmaid-to-be, writes occasionally about planning for and being part of three (and counting) friends' weddings in one year. To follow her adventures from the beginning, click here.