Guest blog by Ashley Brooke

Hey guys!  Lisa here your Redlocks and Shamrocks Girl!  Meet Ashley Brooke my guest writer for this blog post!  Ashley and I went to college together at UNLV and she was a cheerleader when I was a Rebel Girl.   Ashley is an amazing wife, working mother, and a fitness junkie!  She is SUCH an inspiration to eat right, be fit, and grow confidence.  Follower her on Instagram at @ashbrooke_balanced if you want daily fitness inspiration.  Check out her feature on my blog about planning the perfect bachelorette party! 

Hi Babes! First I want to thank Lisa for so generously offering up her blog allowing this post to happen! So many of you have commented and messaged me asking for all the details on planning the PERFECT bachelorette party and I originally intended to just do an Instagram post but there is just NO WAY I could fit it all in! If this post helps just ONE babe in planning her own/friend’s bachelorette party, I will be one happy mama! So here it goes…

YAY!!! Your BF is getting married!!! Once the initial excitement of an engagement for your bestie has passed, the real work for the maid of honor sets in. BACHLORETTE PARTY PLANNING! Knowing your bride is the critical first step in planning, for example if your bride hates the cold, a weekend hitting the slopes in Tahoe probably isn’t the best fit. For my bride and bestie of 10 years Samantha (Sami for short) I knew she wanted a sunny and warm bachelorette party. Not sure what your bride is looking for? Ask her! Don’t want to spoil a surprise? Ask her general questions like (warm weather or cool, travel or no travel, strippers or no strippers…haha but seriously ask!). It’s better to get these ideas as specific as possible to get a really good idea of what your bride would prefer before you spend the time and money putting together a party that misses the mark. The next and final thing you need from the bride is a list of her girls, the ones she wants to spend her last big blowout single weekend with!

Once you know what your bride wants and have the list of girls, let the planning begin! After attending many bachelorette parties, I’ve been through the good, bad and ugly. Knowing that Sami wanted a sunny/warm party in January/February my options for locations were pretty limited. I narrowed my ideas down to Florida (Disney World) and Mexico. One day while driving to work and listening to the radio I heard an ad for Luke Bryan’s Crash My Playa, instantly intrigued (not even for the bachelorette party) I went to the website and saw the timing was incredible for the bachelorette party and the more I thought about it, the more I realized I was not going to find anything better. All-inclusive resort (remember the good the bad and the ugly? Splitting dinner checks and bar tabs every night between 8 girls is awful!). 4 nights of country concerts, pool side shows and most importantly SUNSHINE & BEACH! Once I knew where we were going and asked the bridesmaids if they were ok with all of the details, dates & pricing we were all set!

Since our college sorority days (shout out to Delta Zeta Girls) we have always loved to theme and match during girl’s trips, so coming up with the perfect theme for the weekend was really important to me. To be honest, I am not really sure how I came up with it but the word BEACHLORETTE popped up in my head and I couldn’t let it go and from there Sami’s Beachlorette was born. I asked a friend Josh (link below) to design a logo for me using a palm tree and some type of handwritten font to say Sami’s Beachlorette Crash My Playa 2017. I let him know the logo would be used on tank tops. He presented a few options and I picked this one!  In the same writing I asked him to also do a “Beaches” logo and “Beachlorette” logo so that we could have a second tank where all the girls were in beaches tank tops and our bride was in her Beachlorette Crop! It worked out so cute! (by the way, the font is called Lemon Tuesday and you can download it for free, just type it into google).

Next I wanted to theme each day with our bride’s favorite things! A few of her favorite things include: unicorns, camo print, and bows so these things became the inspiration for each night.  To kick off the party we started night one in cutoff shorts & our matching beachlorette logo tanks (I did make Sami a cowboy hat with a veil, but her head was too big and it didn’t fit haha…oops). For our first day by the pool we all wore whatever swimsuit we wanted but our coordinating tank tops over them, this day was cleverly called “where my beaches at”. For night two we all had fun pretending to be unicorns. The bride was instructed to wear her favorite white dress/romper and all the girls were asked to wear their favorite black dress/romper. The next day we all wore matching swimsuits, I searched far and wide for a palm tree/beach print that had several different options that girls could choose from. These PilyQ suits were great. They had a one-piece option, two different tops and bottoms to choose from and shorts. We got so many compliments this day! For night three we were “Sami’s Soldiers” we all wore matching camo headbands, white shirts and jeans casual and comfortable after a long day in the sun. For the final day we planned a group yoga class and bought the bride a palm tree yoga outfit, each of the girls were asked to wear a solid color yoga outfit in Black, White or Gray (although we didn’t actually get to do yoga…long story…we still looked adorable J ). For the final night we decided to go BOWHO in Mexico. Each girl was asked to wear a boho outfit of their choice. In my opinion, the key to success here is to try and “theme” most of your night/days outfits that give girls flexibility to either buy a new outfit if they want or find something they already have in their closet…no matter what you choose as long as your bride has a veil on at all times, she will stand out!

Some other fun accessories that made the weekend stand out were matching palm tree sunglasses, custom and personalized water bottles, oversized pool floats (TIP! Use the hotel blow dryer to inflate in your room…it works!)  and the adorable custom sun hats that the bride brought along for all the girls as a gift! 

To reveal the location (and themes) of the bachelorette party to Sami and the rest of the girls I created packages from Santa. These packages included a full itinerary and each of the little accessories they needed so they could plan and coordinate their outfits. I created the itinerary using Microsoft Word and purchased boxes, tissue paper and palm tree confetti on Amazon.  

The final step of planning was to create a “need to knows” packet. The purpose of this packet was to have all the details of the trip, contact information, location, emergency contact information ect in one place not only for us, but for our families. I also included a packing list because I typically make them anyway for my trips and I didn’t want any girl forgetting one of her themed goodies (and it worked! no one forgot!). this document was made using Microsoft word and I found little weather icons using google.

 

MY TOP 3 PLANNING TIPS:

• Plan Ahead to avoid paying rush charges for custom items like tank tops, hats, tumblers and Veils. Give yourself at least 6-8 weeks.
• If you are on a budget, you can DIY many of these items. Tulle is available in bulk on amazon or fabric stores for much cheaper than having someone else make them for you.
• Choose a location that gives you all types of options for group experiences, concerts, fitness studios and down time.

MY FAVORITE BACHELORETTE PARTY LOCATIONS & THEMES!

• Beachlorette: for obvious reasons I pick any beach and start planning! Cali, Miami and Mexico. I love the idea of all inclusive resorts because it just makes things easy!
• Bachville: Grab your cowboys boots and head to Nashville, this is an amazing city with tons of bars, restaurants and activities. This city is packed with live music, culture and scenery.
• NOLA: I haven’t been, but I have always thought New Orleans would be a great city for a bachelorette party, When I think of NOLA I think of taking a group pastry class to learn how to make their world famous beignets or a haunted city tour soaking gup the history.
• Austin: This hotel looks like an incredible girls’ getaway https://travaasa.com/
• Vegas: For the party bride you really can’t go wrong with this location. With enough girls you can generally get access to comp bottles, tables and dinners and some of the best restaurants, night clubs and day clubs.
• Napa: How much fun would wine tours and tastings be with all your girls. Napa is a foodie town as well, a great spot to get some amazing meals.

 

SHOPPING LINKS:

Sami’s Beachlorette Logo: www.iamjoshlucas.com

Custom tank tops/crops/t-shirts: www.customizedgirl.com

Palm tree sunglasses: www.sunglassspot.com

Starfish Veil: RiosBows on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RiosBows

Unicorn Headbands: RAQuirkybits on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RAQuirkyBits

Custom Bridal Mrs.Veil: myeverydayparty on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/myeverydayparty

Custom Tumblers: shoparoundthecorner3 on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShopAroundTheCorner

Custom Sun Hats: lifehasjustbegun on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LifeHasJustBegun

Palm Tree Swim Suits: https://www.swimoutlet.com

Thank you to Ashley for sharing her amazing tips! I hope you all enjoyed Ash’s post on planning the perfect bachelorette party!  I know I will be putting this advice to good use as I am helping plan one of my best friend’s bachelorette parties in a few months! EK!  I can only pray it is as cute as this one!  If you aren’t following her on Instagram yet @ashbrooke_balanced, you are really missing out!

XOXO

Your Redlocks and Shamrocks Girl,

Lisa Doyle