Bride-to-be Blogger Alyse: My Bachelorette Party

Alyse and her little sister/maid of honor.

Well, that was fun!

Last weekend I had my bachelorette party. Although I won’t be sharing everything, I think the planners did such a phenomenal job that I need to tell you about all of the details that made it such a memorable night.

Many ideas were floated around in the original planning: weekend trips, big activities, wine tastings—but in the end, I decided that what I really wanted was a big party. So, I invited 23 of my closest friends to New York for one big night out. Friends from childhood to friends I met in the past year traveled from Philly, Boston, DC, Chicago and a few blocks away.

Because my sister is my maid of honor and she is 18, the major planning fell on a few other bridesmaids. I was involved with the initial planning, but was quickly phased out after the hotel, dinner and club locations were set. I mildly succeeded in not asking a million questions and they did a great job surprising me (a very difficult task).

When I got to the hotel, the room was decorated in a “school spirit” theme: There were pictures, shirts and other paraphanalia from grade school, high school, college, and law school. (I am so glad my friends found a purpose for those not-allowed-on-Facebook-under-any-circumstances photos from over the years.) Then we started the “bachelorette” activities. First, everyone went around the room and said how they knew me, and told their most memorable story about me. There were some sweet moments (thanks guys!) but in general, this quickly turned into a list of my most embarrassing moments.

One big surprise was a video that some of the bridesmaids put together titled “Sh*t Alyse Says.” I highly recommend this, especially if the bride provides some good material, which I apparently do. I have been watching what I say ever since I saw it! Then everyone broke into groups and played an Alyse-themed trivia game (which, again, devolved into a list of my embarrassing moments mixed with some nice facts). After the hotel fun, we went to the restaurant, where we had a private room with a bar. The menus were printed with “Alyse’s Bachelorette” across the top, which I thought was a great touch. The night ended with some serious dancing at a club that was right below the restaurant.

On Monday morning—which happened to be my birthday, as well as the first day of a new job—I naturally did some serious reflecting on my life, and wondered if I should be regretting any of that “material” that I provided over the years that is now memorialized in photos, videos and some very good memories. I quickly decided that, nope, I’ve got no regrets; how else would I be absolutely sure that I would still have all of those amazing friends I just partied with over the past weekend? And, anyway, I think I may have just provided some brand new material, so there’s no reason to change now.

Were you involved in the planning of your bachelorette party? Did your bridesmaids surprise you with any fun activities?

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