Create a bridal shower inspired by the letters of the bride-to-be's name. 

The concept of this alphabet shower was established with the invitation. A long strip of ivory paper with the letters of Rebecca's name (first, middle, and last) assigned each guest a letter and instructed them to bring a shower gift starting with that letter.

Here, guest of honor Rebecca Thuss holds a bouquet made the day of the party from gifts' trimmings. 

As everyone arrived at the party, they stacked their gifts marked with their assigned letter. As it grows, the present pile spells out the guest of honor's name.

There's also a "Rebecca" banner made from rosemary sprigs (which stands for remembrance) suspended from a door, cookies shaped like an "R," and tiny paper flags with a drawing of a familiar-looking redhead embellishing homemade truffles.

Cards written by guests are bound into an accordion-fold book.

Rebecca's friends and colleagues came up with words describing her, to correspond with each letter of her name. The words were printed on the invitation and inscribed in icing on envelope cookies.

Sparkling with sugar, chocolate cookies are sandwiched together with raspberry jam; a little flag waving from a homemade truffle declares the overwhelming sentiment of the day.

On the next several slides, we're sharing even more ideas that you can incorporate into an alphabet shower, including this chic pearl monogram tied with a satin bow. To make, string pearl beads onto 16-gauge wire; make loops at ends and shape into a letter 20 inches tall. Secure junctions with finer wire.

Silk flowers spell out a couple's initials on a silk faille banner and mark the way for a bridal shower when hung outside of the location. To make, start with a 30-by-40-inch piece of fabric. Hem sides; sew 1-inch casing at top and bottom; insert 1/2-inch dowels. Hot-glue silk blossoms to banner; hang with ribbon.

Offer a glimpse of the bridal shower favors inside with these monogram-punched boxes. They can be customized with the bride and groom's initials and tied with different color ribbon to match the color palette of the event. 

Serve guests homespun white cupcakes crowned with fondant hearts cut with a cookie cutter and rubber-stamped with the bride and groom's first initials. Those bearing a B are paired with napkins marked with an H, and vice versa.

A perfect gift for an alphabet shower is a monogrammed one. Towels, stationery, and robes for the bride- and groom-to-be are several ways you can give a monogram.

Letters found in vintage books or print shops can inspire beautiful cakes like this one. If you find a monogram you'd like to use as a cake decoration for your alphabet bridal shower, share it with your baker or transfer the design from paper to a rolled fondant-covered tier. 

For a personalized touch, wrap favors in paper in the shower's color palette and attach these monogrammed labels to the boxes. To make, print these labels on adhesive or regular paper and cut out with a 3-inch circle punch.

Instead of serving slices from one big cake, why not serve up individual cakes with the bride-to-be's monogram? The monograms on these French patisserie-style charlottes, or molded sponge cakes, consist of piped chocolate batter baked into almond-flavored cake.

Serve these personalized cookies during the shower or wrap them in glassine bags and send them home with guests as favors. To create these special cookies, monograms can be made by cutting dough into letters or twisting ropes of it into shapes. An initial could also be crafted in contrasting dough, or piped onto still-wet icing.

Sometimes the simplest techniques produce the most striking effects, as is the case with these single tiers topped with cocoa-powder initials (his, hers, and theirs). A fairly dense cake, such as a pound cake or vegetable-oil-based cake, works best to provide an even surface to stencil, as does turning the flat bottom of the cake top-side. We glazed our Chocolate-Cherry-Stout Cake with a cornstarch-based chocolate glaze. Once the glaze hardened, the stencils (available from Designer Stencils) were applied, and cocoa powder dusted on.

Everyone knows you and your groom are cut out for each other; these monogrammed shortbread sandwich cookies just drive home the point. Let store-bought cookie cutters do the heavy lifting; we started with a round ruffly one to get the shape, then mini alphabet cutters for the monogram. Between the layers lies sweet-tart rhubarb jam -- another perfect match. Serve them as a sweet treat at your shower, or package them up and send them home with your guests as favors. We used mini alphabet cutters by R&M from Amazon.com and a heart aspic cutter by Ateco.