BACHELORETTE WEEKEND
Ahh, wedding season! This year has been filled with so many weddings and one among them, is my very best friend who is getting married next month! Being Maid of Honor is such an honor but it can also be very challenging! This was my first time being a MOH, so it was definitely a learning experience! Luckily, Katie has two MOHs so we got to go through the process together which definitely made it a little less stressful! :)
Katie decided she wanted her bachelorette to be in Fredericksburg, which is the cutest german town located about an hour and a half from Austin. Fredericksburg is known for it's great antique shops and it's wine! It's called the wine country of Texas or as I saw in a brochure for a winery, "Tuscany in Texas." That may be taking it a tad far, but the wine is pretty good and the experience can't be beat.
Shannon (other MOH) and I arrived early Friday to hit up the grocery store and set up the house! Give yourself several hours to do this because it definitely takes more time than you think to purchase groceries, unload, organize the house, set up decorations, etc! Guests and the bride-to-be started arriving at 3pm. As people arrived, we showed people their rooms and would give a tour of the house! We were all hanging out and catching up (while sipping on rosé of course) until about 5pm when we decided to head to Hondo's for pre-dinner cocktails. We ate the yummiest of dinner at Vaudeville, which I highly recommend if you will be visiting Fredericksburg anytime soon! Vaudeville is located in the most darling historic house. There is a cute shop upstairs and the restaurant is located downstairs. After dinner, we hit up a few bars on main street but eventually made our way back to the house as we had an early next morning.
On Saturday, we woke up and had a small snack before brunch and popped open some bubbly to make mimosas from the bubbles bar! We then headed to brunch to fill up our stomachs before a day of wine tasting! We used Texas Wine Tours which made it super easy as they booked your reservations and the wineries, handled payment of the tastings, and drove you from vineyard to vineyard! I thought it was a pretty seamless experience as all you had to worry about was drinking wine!
After wine tasting, we spent the rest of the evening hanging out at the house! Our rental had a big fire pit in the backyard so we decided to light it up and hang out there while we ate dinner! We also played the grooms quiz outside which is a super fun game where you send the groom about 25 questions to answer in advance. You then ask the questions to the bride and if she gets the answer correct, the group drinks, and if she gets the answer wrong, she drinks. It's always enjoyable for the bride to see how she thinks her groom will answer the question. After the grooms quiz, we headed back inside for her lingerie shower! Shortly after that people started snoozing off as we had a big day filled with lots and lots of wine. It was truly a wonderful weekend and hopefully one that Katie will always cherish and remember!
I started planning Katie's bachelorette in November of last year. I know that seems crazy early for a early May bachelorette but trust me, you need all the time you can get! I've listed out below a timeline of tasks to help you if you're in the planning process or will be very soon! You'll also see at the very end of this blog post links to all my decorations!
TIMELINE
6 Months Out:
- Email bride for guest list of who she would like invite besides her bridesmaids and get their email and address information. Also ask the bride where she would like to have her bachelorette and also her 2 preferred weekends.
- Email her guest list about the bachelorette and ask everyone's availability for those two weekends. You then pick the weekend where most people are able to attend.
- Book housing rental. I know this sounds super early, but trust me, rentals fill up quickly (especially the cute ones!) Put it on your credit card and you can then venmo or request checks from the guests.
3-4 Months Out:
- Start thinking of a theme or how you would like to decorate for the weekend. From the invite to the tassel garland, I think it's important to have a cohesive theme. The theme can be a color or it can be tropical or fiesta - just depends on what your bride likes! I personally went with a fiesta theme as I thought it would be super fun and since her bachelorette was right around cinco de mayo!
- Start purchasing decorations. Trust me, it helps your bank account if you purchase decorations over a period of months so it's not a huge hit all at once!
2 Months Out:
- Plan itinerary. Book restaurants, wine tours, transportation,
whatever you plan to do that weekend! The last thing you want is for your brunch spot to get booked up. Better to do it early so you have peace of mind!
- Order invites so you can be sure that they arrive in a timely manner and to give yourself enough time to reorder in case the invites are incorrect
- Continue to purchase decorations
1 Month Out
- Send invites out. I sent mine 6 weeks out but it's totally a personal preference. The minimum time should be 3 weeks out.
- Confirm bookings, reservations, etc
- Send itinerary and budget out to the group so everyone can plan accordingly
- Purchase remaining decorations
- Make grocery list to stock the house. (lots of water bottles, snacks, booze, breakfast, etc!)
- Create spotify playlist for the weekend of your bride's favorites tunes!
Day of
- Grocery store
- Set up decorations
- Assign rooms to make it easier for guests
- Set up welcome gifts
DECORATIONS:
Tablescape:
Mexican Runner | Mini Pinatas | Cocktail Napkins | Paper Straws
Bubbly Barr:
Sign | Champagne Glasses | Glass Carafes | Diamond Ring Sticks | Balloon | Straws
Banners:
Welcome Gifts
Customized Wine Glasses | Mini Pinatas | Candy (purchased from grocery store) | Itinerary Card (made myself in Indesign) | Hair Ties | Bride Hair Tie | Flower Crowns | Bride Flower Crown
Misc
MY OUTFIT