For this fun and flirty boudoir bachelorette party shoot, event coordinators Anna and Shannon wanted a theme that would celebrate each girl’s unique look and style, while encouraging everyone to feel confident and empowered. “The shade of lipstick that a woman loves is a pretty personal choice, and what looks best depends on her skin tone, hair color and her smile. What better way to show a woman’s unique personality than to find her perfect red?” said Shannon. The ladies enjoyed Lady in Red and Dirty Shirley cocktails as Kristy’s Artistry Design Team helped each women select her perfect red lipstick, and styled her hair to perfection. Then Kathy of Simply K Studios captured boudoir portraits for each guest, helping the women feel confident and beautiful in these chic and stylish looks.
For bride Unsa’s bachelorette party, her friends and bridesmaids chose an activity they knew the bride would adore—a trip to the zoo with special access to the animal exhibits! The group traveled to The Good Zoo at Oglebay Resort in West Virginia and worked with an animal trainer to feed and train three different animals: red pandas, ring-tailed lemurs and river otters. Afterward, the ladies headed home for a picnic and mini photo shoot with Courtney of CTG Photography, who also captured their animal encounters. We love this unique zoo bachelorette —the bachelorette party should be tailored to the bride’s personality and interests, just like this one!
An intimate dinner party in a glamorous Chicago apartment was the perfect night out for bride Nancy before her destination wedding in Cancun. The bride’s girlfriends—and one close guy friend—hosted her Chicago bachelorette party at DL Loft, a stylish apartment event space in the heart of Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood decked out in Parisian chic decor, including twinkling chandeliers and fluffy white throws. The guests arrived early to have their hair and makeup done, and then enjoyed delicious appetizers and dinner prepared by a private chef. The friends shared old stories and their favorite memories of the bride over flutes of champagne, while Angela Garbot Photography captured a few snaps.
For this tropical bachelorette bash, the ladies headed to Wekiva Island, a riverside oasis just outside of Orlando, Florida. With kayak rentals, private cabanas, a sandy beach and a waterfront bar, this location is the perfect place to spend an afternoon with your girlfriends. Heart and Arrow Event Planning decorated this cabana with pineapples and flamingos and served the ladies refreshing watermelon popsicles and pineapple mango salsa. We love the laid-back vibe of this tropical beach party and the gorgeous moments captured by Tara Libby Photography.
The first week in August, I traveled to North Carolina for my friend Jae’s wedding. Jae got engaged in April and pulled off an amazing wedding in only four months (and on a budget too)! Now, she has specifically asked me to clarify that a four-month engagement does not mean the bride is pregnant!! Since both she and her now-husband Jason are teachers, she really wanted to get married during summer vacation when she would have a lot of time to devote to planning and could just enjoy the event. And waiting over a year just didn’t seem right for her. Planning a wedding in four months seemed impossible to me, but Jae absolutely made it look easy. I was blown away with how easily she pulled everything together. But I shouldn’t have been—Jae is like the most organized, proactive person in the universe. Her wedding was beautiful and everything came together perfectly.
But Jae’s short engagement did mean that we didn’t have time to dedicate a full weekend to bachelorette festivities…so we decided to pack everything into her wedding weekend! That meant a bachelorette on Saturday, a bridal shower on Sunday, and the wedding on Monday! (One of Jae’s pro tips for getting married on a budget: Have a Monday or Friday wedding!) At first I was nervous about trying to do so much in one weekend. Honestly, I was worried that I would be totally burned out by the wedding reception. But it turned out to be fantastic! I think the key was that each of our events had a very different energy: we had relaxing spa time, a high-energy bachelorette night, a classy tea party. All of the events were so different and I thought we had the perfect balance of relaxing, socializing and fun!
I started the weekend with a plane delay that made me about an hour late for our bachelorette spa day. I have to give credit to the amazing team at Balance Day Spa in Greensboro. I had basically missed my massage time slot, but they were able to move some of their appointments around to make sure I got a 30-minute massage. And after a rough morning of air travel, I SO needed it! The spa is lovely and relaxing, with a peaceful lounge area in the women’s locker room where we set up a mimosa bar and other refreshments. After our massages and manicures, Jae surprised us with thoughtful bridesmaid gift bags. Each bag included a monogrammed silk robe to wear on the morning of the wedding, monogrammed clutches and (my favorite) a personalized framed memento of our friendship, in which she shared some of her favorite memories with each of us. The gifts were so thoughtful—there were definitely a few tears shed!
Afterward, we headed to dinner in downtown Greensboro at Liberty Oak, then back to the hotel for a bachelorette slumber party. Jae wanted a low-key night with her girlfriends with lots of laughing. We tried to incorporate a lot of Jae’s favorite things into the weekend—for instance, Harry Potter and FRIENDS. For her bachelorette favors, I found these awesome House Bride Harry Potter themed tank tops. Not only did they look great, they were also super comfortable—and the seller even rushed the order to get them to me on time. They were perfect. We started up a marathon of FRIENDS wedding episodes (half of the wedding party can quote FRIENDS on command) and played a few bachelorette games, including the fiance quiz, a bridal mad lib and a wedding version of 5 Second Rule (stay tuned for more on that).
The next morning, we hosted a tea party shower in the lobby of the O.Henry Hotel, which was also the venue for Jae’s wedding and where we were all staying. I cannot compliment this hotel enough. The service was superb. The night before, I must have called the front desk 10 times for different things—could we have a DVD player brought up, could we have a wine opener, oh no one of us is locked out of our room, oh no we can’t figure out how to make the DVD player work! Seriously, if I had any problem, I just called the front desk…and they fixed it for me. They were so generous, thoughtful and helpful. They really made our stay perfect.
For the shower, we served an afternoon tea for Jae’s friends and relatives, and played a “how well do you know the bride” game. Each guest left with a sprinkle party favor with a handmade tag you can download here. We also asked all the guests to bring Jae a recipe on a personalized recipe card and it was so fun to see the different recipes she got. They completely matched the personalities and tastes of the senders, from quinoa salad to ice cream bar cake. (My own contribution was a spice blend I use on everything…and yes, it’s Whole30.)
Finally, I’ll share a little peek of us getting ready on wedding day in our monogrammed robes!!
Channeling Queen Bey, bride Tori and her squad made it their goal to be drunk in love…or just drunk for her bachelorette weekend. The ladies kicked off the drunk in love bachelorette weekend with a Beyonce concert. For their second night, they met up with photographer Katie Burnett in her Edmonton studio for a fun night of glamour and passion. The ladies got their hair and makeup done while enjoying champagne and cupcakes. After their makeovers, Tami of Pure Romance stopped by with racks of lingerie and a few other unmentionables for a “passion party.” The girls ended their session with a sassy photo shoot. Who runs the world? Girls!
Remember when slumber parties were like all you were about? Your Little Mermaid and Lisa Frank sleeping bags would be lined up in the living room with bowls of popcorn and M&Ms scattering around the room. You’d paint each other’s nails and experiment with eye shadow while dishing about your latest crush at school and alternate screaming and laughing hysterically. Why can’t we do that as adults?! Answer: We totally can! This bachelorette slumber party features plenty of champagne, jewel-box donuts for snacking and comfy-cozy robes and slippers for lounging—we just replace the sleeping bags for feather beds at a darling bed and breakfast! No replacement needed for the dishing and laughing!
