Remembering My Bachelorette Weekend

I can't believe it's already been over a week since Kristina's Bachelorette Bash, and in just a few days we'll be heading back down there for the wedding! Thinking back to the fun of last weekend has also been making me think back to my own shower and bachelorette weekend, over a year and a half ago. Since those festivities took place in the pre-Blog era, I thought I'd share my reminiscing with you now!

That weekend was the best weekend I've ever spent with my friends. It was the week before the wedding, and my dear cousin Molly flew in the morning of my shower to spend the whole week with me. She and my sister Heather hosted my shower for me, with the help of my mom, my Aunt Debbie (Molly's mom), and my Mom's friend Wilma, who was kind enough to lend her house as the venue. Here are some of my favorite details from the shower...

The food and decor! My family knows my true love of things that match and coordinate, so everything at the shower matched my wedding color scheme of deep red and blush pink. They even went so far as to get a cake that looked like the front of our wedding invitations! Man, they know me so well. In addition to the cake, there was a yummy food selection, including fruit skewers, taco dip, sandwiches, potato salad, veggies and dip, and strawberry lemonade. Oh! And another part of the decor that I loved was the pictures of Eric and me over the years that they hung over the table. I'm a sucker for old pictures.

The food, and you can see the old pictures on the mirror above it. Do you see the pink and red cups, and the pink and red alternating napkins? It's a detail-oriented bride's dream come true.

Heather holding my invitation cake!

Molly put together games for us, including pin the veil on the bride and "memory" using items she bought from my registry. A note about Molly: she is an awe-inspiring packer. She's quite the traveler, and she makes packing look like a fine art. For my wedding, she brought only carry-on luggage! And she stayed for a week, plus had to bring not only her bridesmaid gown, but also all the little stuff she bought for this memory game, including things like shower curtain rings, measuring cups, giant mugs, tongs, a potato masher, etc. Is that not amazing? If I'm traveling for a week, I need a whole carry-on just for shoes.

Molly helping my mom pin the veil on the bride

And my guests were so generous. I hope they all know how much Eric and I appreciate their generosity. I was overwhelmed with all the gifts! And I think I kept my ribbon-breaking to a manageable number, so according to tradition, there is no forecast of an unmanageable brood of W. children. My bridesmaids also dutifully assembled my bow bouquet, which I proudly carried at our wedding rehearsal. Molly also recorded everything I said as I opened my gifts, then read them aloud so we could all hear the preview of what I might say on my wedding night. Oh, good times!

With my bow bouquet

I love this picture of me laughing at my wedding-night preview with my sister-in-law Stephanie, and mother-in-law Toni!

And of course, the best part of all was spending time with my loved ones. Everyone was so good to me, and made it so special!

Me with my bridesmaids, minus one (Megan): Molly, me, Kristina and Heather

After the shower, all of the present bridesmaids went out to Shephard's Beach Resort on Clearwater Beach for the Bachelorette Extravaganza. I rode with Kristina who stalled as much as possible to give Heather and Molly a chance to get everything set up, including scandalous balloons, my sinfully delicious penis cake, and all the liquor, shot glasses, and other accessories they bought for the weekend. Everything was awesome!

The first night, we all got ready to go out on the town, which included Heather doing everyone's hair so we all had "poufs." She also did Molly's makeup, and Molly looked HOT! Then we went out to dinner at Frenchy's, where we had seafood, beer, shots, and a close encounter with a cockroach. From there it was back to Shephard's for dancing at their nightclub, which also led to a shout-out on the local radio station, a run-in with Jared of Subway Sandwiches commercial fame (did you know he has a body guard?), and dancing on the stage! It was a blast. Dancing was followed by a late-night swim for Molly, Heather and me, which was of course followed by more cake at 5 a.m.

The next morning started with mimosas, and after a short rain shower, we spent the day on the beach. Unfortunately Kristina had to leave that day, but Molly, Heather and I enjoyed our time in the sun. Note: wearing a veil at the beach will result in lots of free drinks.

That night the three of us went to dinner at Post Corner Pizza then went back to Shephard's for more dancing. Another wonderful evening!

The next morning Heather had to go to work, so Molly and I slept in, had breakfast (and by breakfast, I mean leftover pizza for me and more cake for Molly), checked out of our room then hit the pool. Meanwhile, Eric had picked up my missing bridesmaid, Megan, from the airport and the two of them came out to meet us for some sun time. What an awesome weekend!

I put together a little Bachelorette Montage below, if you want to see some pics. Of course, the same "Explicit Content" disclaimer preceding Kristina's Bachelorette Post applies here, as well:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It was such an great weekend. Thanks to my girls for giving me such great memories! And now Kristina has her own bachelorette memories to look back on, so who's next? Heather? Molly? Meg? Let's do this all again!