Bridal means relating to a bride or a wedding. A bridal gown is the special dress a bride wears on her wedding day. A bridal shower is a party where friends and family give gifts to someone who's about to get married. A bridal party includes the bride's closest friends and family members who stand with her during the ceremony.

You'll see this word used to describe almost anything connected to weddings: bridal bouquets, bridal veils, bridal magazines, even bridal shops where people buy wedding dresses and accessories. When someone talks about the bridal suite at a hotel, they mean a special room reserved for newlyweds.

People sometimes confuse bridal with bridle, which is the leather straps that fit around a horse's head to help guide it. The words sound exactly the same but mean completely different things. If you're writing about a wedding, you want bridal with an “a.” If you're writing about horses, you want bridle with an “i.”