Thursday, May 2, 2019

Tips For Planning A Bachelorette Party and The Mamma Mia Themed Bachelorette I Planned

Now that I think I am officially off of cloud nine from such a fun bachelorette weekend in Charleston a couple of weeks back and have recovered from the high of sharing our itinerary with y’all on Tuesday I’m hoping to impart some wisdom when it comes to planning a bachelorette party. Having only done it once, I am far from an expert, but this is a good start when it comes to sharing tips for anyone else who may have been as inexperienced as I was. 

Although I am in two other weddings this summer, Sophia’s bachelorette is the only true weekend getaway I will be attending. My friend Kate (who gets married in a week) is doing a low-key dinner the Thursday before the wedding that will serve as her bachelorette and my future sister-in-law, Shannon, has a fun weekend in Canada planned that coincides with Sophia’s wedding so I won’t be going to that. The variety in these plans just goes to show how different each bachelorette can be depending on the bride. If you happen to be Maid of Honor, chances are you know the bride well enough to determine what she may want but don’t hesitate to include her in the planning.

 

Below I have shared five tips to streamline the planning process for you. And if you happen to choose Charleston, SC as your bachelorette destination then I already have an itinerary and list of activities for you here

Choose a Date and Location
Most of these tips are going to seem like a no-brainer, but you have to start somewhere. After talking to the bride and bridesmaids, decide on a weekend that works best for the most people. For us, during Sophia’s spring break was the best bet even though her wedding isn’t until July. Summer gets busy with family vacations, other people’s weddings, and more so if you’re planning a bachelorette for the summer months, I’d recommend confirming that with the bridal party as early as possible. After choosing a date, it’s time to talk with the bride to see where she may want to go. This was an easy decision for Sophia given that Charleston is one of her favorite cities, but if the bride is between a few places, it wouldn’t hurt to think logistically about which may be the most accessible location for the bridesmaids to get to. 
  

Find a Place to Stay
Finding where to stay was definitely the most challenging part of the process for me personally since I wanted to make sure the financial responsibility wouldn’t be too lofty, but we’d also be near the activities we wanted to do. Charleston is a very popular destination in the spring so the earlier you book, the better chances you have of choices. After narrowing down a few potential places to stay, I checked in with the other bridesmaids about whether the price would work for them before booking.

While it depends on the number of bridesmaids and your destination, I found that an Airbnb was the most cost-effective (and spacious) option. It’s amazing the number of cute places that came up when searching, and I think I need to remember to utilize the site more no matter my reason for travel.



Make Reservations (crowdsource for activity and food ideas)
Once you’ve booked where you’re staying comes the fun part, planning what you’re going to do. Charleston was full of options for food, activities, and more so narrowing it down and finalizing reservations was a bit of a process. I did a lot of research online and also had Sophia send me a list of things she found before looking into places locations and availability for our group. Since Charleston could definitely be considered a foodie town, I made reservations about a month and a half out (with backup options as well in case our timing got off during the day) and still had to compromise a bit on when we would actually be eating. If you’re going to a less popular destination, hopefully, you won’t have too much trouble snagging a table for your group! 


Pick a Theme 
We all know I love a theme and since Sophia is an all-in kind of person when it comes to what she loves deciding on one was easy. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone so obsessed with Mamma Mia and her last name made it easy to solidify. I also knew that going the traditional #bridetribe or #teambride route wasn’t our groups' thing so having a theme gave us an excuse to avoid those products and focus on something a little less typical which leads me to the next step…



Gather Decorations and Supplies
Since we went more “custom” on the theme, it was time to scour the internet to find any, and all Mamma Mia themed parties. I was a bit disappointed in what I discovered and ended up piecing most of what we used together on my own. Since Sophia’s last name is Denaro and Donna is one of the main characters, it was easy to swap that out. Had that not been the case I’m not sure what I would have done, but luck was on my side. 

I opted to print out signs that said Hotel Bella Denaro and put the names of the girls staying in each room inside the window on the image. I used the same self-made template when typing up an itinerary for each girl to have to get an idea of our weekend as well. From there I knew that we would be staying in on Friday night and cute paper products would be necessary. Fortunately, Coterie Party had an Almafi Blues set that tied in perfectly. I can’t recommend their boxes enough since it saved me many trips to Target since I was able to get everything I needed in a single box there instead. You can also specify the number of people in your party to order different quantities of the products which would be helpful for larger groups as well. The company was kind enough to send me a discount code (PREP15) for y’all to use to get 15% off of your first purchase if you decide to order! 

Aside from that, I knew I wanted each girl to have a little welcome stash upon arrival so I stuck with the theme and ordered colorful feathered boas, blow up microphones (essential with the Mamma Mia soundtrack playing in the background), buttons that said Denaro and the Dynamos, silly ring glasses, and one of Packed Party’s Disco Drink tumblers. In Sophia’s stash, I also found a sash to customize with Denaro and the Dynamos, a flower crown, and a fun bride straw. We really only used these items on Friday night, but they could have been used Saturday as well had we wanted to. 


Pack and Enjoy
Once the details are figured out, and you’ve properly marked down the date with one too many exclamation points in your planner all that is left to do is pack and enjoy the weekend! 

I’d love to hear of any cool destinations y’all have been to on bachelorette parties or other tips you may have in the comments. Happy Thursday! 

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