Bachelorette Weekend: Part One

A couple weekends ago, I hosted my sister’s bachelorette party in New York.  I promised you all a blog post with scandalous pictures and have yet to show you anything because in all the hustle of the move, I lost my camera from the weekend.  And when I finally found the camera, the battery was dead and I couldn’t find the charger.  Finally this morning, I found the charger so we are all set.

WARNING :  If you are a new reader, please go back and read my two previous posts on this weekend (HERE and HERE) and know that under normal circumstances I am all about sweat pants and Netflicks and that any departure from those two things requires either an act of God or my sister getting married.  Thank you.

I was really dreading this weekend.  Like.  A lot.  As the Matron of Honor (horrible, horrible term, by the way), the bachelorette party falls under my jurisdiction, but I was probably the LEAST qualified to be in charge of the festivities.  Namely because I have only ever been to two other bachelorette parties.  And one of those was my own.  And I think the rest of the girls had, collectively, been to over 1,000 of them.  So, I did what any homebody, blogger, social recluse would do.  I Googled “How do I throw a bachelorette party?”

Everything I read online said the key to a good weekend was a good schedule.  I didn’t think we necessarily had to stick with it all the time, but a schedule would at least ensure we had SOMETHING to do at all times.  And from previous experience, I know that I always find group trips to be much less stressful in terms of money if I know what to budget for and what to expect.  So, I put together a big schedule (one that would make my professionally organized mother and sister proud) and emailed it out to the ladies attending months in advance.  We then spent the next couple months going back and forth through email, hammering out details and tweaking the schedule so everyone got what they wanted (hopefully).  In the end, I think we all had a great time.

We went to some really great places over the weekend, so I’m including the links to all our adventures and I highly recommend them all if anyone is ever in the New York area.  Bachelorette party or not, the restaurants were fantastic.

Friday, we all arrived at the hotel in small groups as planes arrived at the airport.  We met in the hotel lobby (Marriott Marquis in Time Square) where everyone had luggage sent up to the rooms and then got ready to get our shopping on!  Before we started shopping though, everyone was hungry so we headed uptown a bit to one of my favorite burger places in Manhattan, Jackson Hole.  Their burgers and chicken sandwiches are delicious, their fries are perfect, but their homemade pickles are TO DIE FOR!

FYI: That’s my sister, The Bride, in the top row, center.

After lunch, a few more guests arrived in town and we decided to brave the pouring rain and do a little shopping.  We went to a few small boutiques on Madison Avenue before landing in one of the happiest places on earth, Dylan’s Candy Bar.  Owned by Ralph Lauren’s daughter, Dylan, this candy shop is a New York favorite.  I think there are branches of it now all over the country, but the New York shop is the original and it is so much fun.  Its like Willie Wonka.  They even have Wonka chocolate bars! And giant Easter bunny PEZ dispensers!

We then headed out again in the rain on, but this time armed with our bags of candy.  I even bought Bean a Dylan’s Candy Bar stuffed monkey.  He loves him!

Our next shopping destination was Bloomingdale’s.  Strangely enough, we met up with the last group of guests right there in the Bloomingdale’s purse department.

Let’s pause for a minute in the story to talk about my outerwear on this trip.  You will note in this picture that most of the girls are wearing heavy winter coats.  Because it was 30 degrees and raining outside.  Fairly normal, right?  Yes.

I, too, had weather-appropriate clothing planned for the weekend.  I had a few beautiful sweaters, my Cuddle Duds, and my winter coat.  When my sister got to my house on Thursday before we headed to New York the next day, she went through my wardrobe for the weekend and announced that I would look RIDICULOUS walking around in winter clothes.

It was a bachelorette party.

“Alcohol will keep you warm,” she insisted.  I countered back that I wasn’t a big drinker and that I was quite fond of being warm and cozy in sweaters.  She said that NO ONE would be wearing winter clothes and especially not winter coats.

It was a bachelorette party.

So, against my better judgment, I put away all my sweaters and Cuddle Duds and broke out my spring silk shirts and light cardigans (even the cardigans got thumbs down reviews from Gin…).  At the last minute, I threw in this lovely mom-style khaki raincoat.  I love it.  But when put in the group of girls wearing beautiful wool winter coats, it looks a little…well…momish.  Also, for the remainder of the weekend, I froze my old lady ass off while every other girl there, except my sister, wore weather appropriate turtlenecks, sweaters, and winter boots.  Even my sister asked a friend of hers in NY if she could borrow a winter coat while she was in town, so in the end, I was the ONLY one dressed like it was spring break.

I’m holding a grudge and fully intend to bring up this incident during my Matron of Honor toast at the wedding reception.

Moving on…

After shopping, the group headed back to the hotel to shower and change for dinner and our first night out. When we got back to the hotel, we all squealed with delight to find that Ginny’s fiance, John Michael, had sent champagne and chocolate covered strawberries to Gin’s room.  The card said, “From your future husband.  I love you.  Have a great weekend.”  10 points for JM.

Ginny had requested a low-key dinner and drinks this night so that we could all chat and reconnect, since a lot of the girls hadn’t seen each other in a while.  It was a perfect excuse to go to my favorite New York pizzeria – John’s Pizza in Time Square.  You can’t tell from the picture, but John’s Pizza is located in an old church just off of Time Square, so there is balcony seating and vaulted ceilings with stained glass.  Also, the two places where the front pulpits once stood are now the two brick ovens where the pizzas are baked.  The best part about this place is that you would never know from walking by on the street that this huge, beautiful restaurant is inside.  I love that about New York.

At the restaurant, I made an opening night toast, thanking everyone for coming.  I said that the rest of the weekend and the wedding festivities were all about Ginny and John Michael and so our first night out on the town should be a salute to those poor men who had loved Ginny and never been able to catch her.  If we all had one drink per poor lovestruck boy, we could have stayed drunk all weekend.

After we stuffed our immaculately made-up faces with pizza and beer, we headed over to a cute little bar in Time Square that Chris and I had stumbled on with friends a couple of years ago.  Its called Aspen Social Club and it is themed like a ski lodge in Aspen.  There were antlers on the ceiling that made up chandeliers and the walls were lined with Aspen trees and mirrors, so it looked like you were looking out into the woods.  They also had big fireplaces everywhere (which was nice for me because, you know, I wasn’t wearing a coat…).

We had a really great time at the bar.  I got to catch up with a lot of the girls that I hadn’t seen since Ginny was in college with them.  And I got to meet a few new people that I hadn’t met before.  And Ginny got to dance.  Which is always a good thing in her book.  It took a few coconut mojitos, but by the end of the night, I was dancing, too.

And by dancing, I mean taping my foot to the music.  Without a coat.

See that cute blonde girl with Ginny in the last picture?  That’s Nicole.  She’s a pediatrician.  I cornered her in the bar and talked to her for an hour about Bean’s asthma and eczema.  Half way through the conversation, I realized what I was doing and I had to force myself to stop talking about Bean while I was in a bar.

After Aspen, it was about 1:00 AM.  When you wake up at 5:00 AM with a baby every morning, that’s like 3:00 AM.  So, I called it a night (along with the pregnant chick of the group) and we headed back to the hotel with our friend, Alexis.  The rest of the girls decided to continue bar hopping so that Ginny could dance a little more.  That meant the next morning, the group was a little slow moving….

But that first night couldn’t have gone any smoother!

Check back throughout the day for more installments of Ginny’s bachelorette weekend.  It was just too much fun for one post!