Bride + Boujee
- CHAN•pagne
- Jul 30, 2019
- 6 min read
The bachelorette trip... a trip for a lady getting married to have her “last fling before the ring.”
I left for my beach bach on Tuesday, May 21, 2019 with my lifelong best friend, Emma. (Post grad/pre-work life is the greatest!)
The bachelorette didn’t actually start until Friday, May 24, but Emma + I could hardly wait to get down there + get a head start on our wedding tans!
Out of 15 bridesmaids, 10 were able to come to the bachelorette. To me, this was such a sweet reminder of how blessed I am with these girls in my life. I had girls coming in from all over the country... literally.
The girls all trickled in throughout the week, but everyone was planted in Destin & ready to celebrate by Friday night!
Fortunately, my grandparents own a condo in Destin, FL, so we stayed for free. I grew up vacationing in this condo, along with almost all of my 10 bridesmaids who made the trek to Florida to celebrate me for the weekend! Because our lodging was covered, this bach party got to splurge elsewhere... you’ll see.
A lot of planning went into this trip. Not on my end, but on my sister/MOH, Taylor, + my best friend, Emma. They would have "phone calls" scheduled with each other for months leading up to the trip in order to plan all of the fun! While flying to Destin with Emma, she was STILL making calls left + right finalizing the plans for the trip! AMAZING FRIEND!!!
Our itinerary during the trip:
Tuesday
Flight from Memphis -> Charlotte -> Destin *if only Memphis had a direct flight ✈️ 🙏🏻
Arrive in Destin + get rental car (The Hertz counter at the Ft. Walton airport had THE nicest people helping us!)
Get to condo, go to grocery store, eat dinner + start decorating - Emma + I had way too much fun buying all the snacks and drinks for the weekend. - By the time we made it out to dinner, everything was closed, so we had a Whataburger car date! Truly a fun memory made with my lifelong bestie! - While Emma had visions of backdrops galore dancing in her head, I was prepping all the beds before our first round of girls arrived in the morning!
Wednesday
Emma + I made our way down to the beach bright and early!
Madi Claire + Madison arrived by lunch time + spent the rest of the day on the beach with us! The four of us got so caught up in talking + catching up, we lost track of time + accidentally only allowed us 30 minutes to shower + get ready for our dinner reservations that night! OOPS!
We made it to our dinner at Pescado Seafood Grill + Rooftop Bar - Rosemary -Kelly Ubered from the airport to the dinner (4/10 bridesmaids already there by Wednesday night!)
Thursday
The five of us spent the day on the beach, ate the best lunch at the grill at the condo + then welcomed my Arizona cousins (Kaitlyn + Scarlett) as they arrived that afternoon (they flew all the way from Phoenix for the bachelorette weekend... angels!)
As we were getting ready for dinner, my sister (the MOH) arrived! (7/10 girls ready to celebrate!)
For dinner, we chose our favorite Mexican restaurant in Destin (Lol, I know Mexican food at the beach? TRUST me... it's THAT good!) While sitting at our table at Cantina Laredo... a sweet friend from college sent the entire table a beach bach party treat! S/O to Amelia DeWitt... you are SOOOOOOO wonderful!
After dinner, Hannah had arrived + was waiting for us back at the condo! Our party was ALMOST complete!
With the majority of my group there, I chose to give them their beach bach happies so that they could utilize them the next day! - I gave my girls personalized tumbler cups + towels with a personable + fun beach bachelorette quote at the bottom of their towel!
Friday
The squad took on the beach Friday morning! As a group of 9 girls with matching towels, cups + a large engagement ring floatie made their way to the beach, I think it was very obvious that we were a bachelorette party! We were fortunate enough to have the cabana boys place our chairs by the coolest young adult couple from Louisiana! They had two little kids, but they were all about the party! S/O to them for taking many of our group pictures that day!
My last two gals rolled in after lunch + spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach with the girls. (Welcome Mary Kate + Hillary!!!!!) All 10 bridesmaids in attendance + I were ready to get this weekend started!
We enjoyed our first meal with EVERYONE at Louis Louis, where the waiter had a MAJOR crush on Kaitlyn (hehehehe)!
Per bachelorette tradition, Friday night was the lingerie party! This was so fun with this group! Lots of laughs had during this part of the trip!
Saturday
Taylor + I woke up + ran to Publix to get sandwich fixings for the yacht!
We started calling for Ubers at 9:30 am to go to the marina. - Something to always remember... there is no such thing as perfection on this earth. Long story short, we could only get one Uber, no one was ready, and a box full of glass bottles filled with one of Hopper's future beers shattered on my foot. This morning was utter chaos and was setting the tone for a bad day...
Half of the girls went in an Uber, while half of the girls stayed back, cleaned up the glass + then rode in Hillary's car. - I was in the Uber + rode the whole way to the marina with a piece of glass lodged in my foot😅😭 - When we got there, Emma was able to successfully pull the glass out of my foot... PTL for that! (I was not about to be the reason we missed the yacht!)
We were supposed to board our private yacht @ 10:00 am, but the whole party didn't get there until about 10:30 am. Emotions were high + everyone was a little tense as the captain gave us instructions for the boat. However, after the boat pulled away from the dock, everybody was on cloud 9 + nothing could go wrong... + nothing did! It truly was THE perfect day.
We were supposed to get off the yacht at 3:00 pm, but we ended up extending our time to 5:30 pm... what can I say? Girls just want to have fun 🛥👙
While we were living our best life on the yacht, Emma went ahead + cancelled our 5:30 pm dinner reservations for Caliza + put us on the list for Louisiana Lagniappe. 🤣
After dinner, this beach bach continued the celebrations at Baytowne Wharf's Village Door 💃🏼 -Brides get in free! 👰🏼
After our group made it safely back to the condo, my sweet cousin door dashed two large pizzas at 2 am!.... to Arizona 😂 (Sorry Aunt Lori + Uncle Frank) - Her heart was in the right place... just not her location settings!
Sunday
We started our day off with a private instructor of vinyasa yoga on the beach @ 9:30 am outside our condo -We were struggling...... 😅🧘🏼♀️
We spent our last day (as a group) on the beach (working on that natural wedding glow 🌞)
Dinner was @ Vue30A @ 8:30 pm
The Village Door @ Baytowne Wharf -The band remembered us + loved us. -We were living our best lives!
Monday
Some girls left early in the morning + some got to have a half day on the beach. I was truly sad to say bye, because we had just had the best couple of days together. However, this trip made me SO excited for the wedding, which was only 2 weeks away at this point! My bridesmaids had bonded + we had memories to last us forever! JUNNNNIIIIIIIIII! #KeepingUpWithTheCortezes
Tuesday
Emma + I spent half the day on the beach + the other half flying back to Memphis. We landed in Memphis at midnight + Emma boarded her plane for New York the next day! (Talk about a loyal best friend!)
My bachelorette trip was truly everything I wanted + more. I am so blessed with the best sister + lifelong friend for planning the most "Chandler" weekend ever! I'm also extremely grateful to the girls who were able to take time to celebrate with me! It's hard to coordinate a weekend with 15 other girls, which is why I was truly so touched that 10 were able to come!
A Few Tips Regarding Your Bachelorette From This Blushing Bride:
1. Don't sweat the small stuff (sometimes a piece of glass will go in your foot, but it can't ruin your day)!
2. Not everyone can come to everything, which is totally normal, but be grateful to the people who made it happen!
3. Be willing to stray from the schedule!
4. Be willing to try new things (Vinyasa Yoga on the beach)!
5. Don't be afraid to squeeze 11 girls in a 2-bedroom condo... it makes for the best memories!
6. Have the time of your life... it ends too soon!
xoxo
I was smiling and lol'ing the whole time reading this!! Im so glad you had so much fun, I know my girls did!