Wifey Wednesday: Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party

Hello all!

So this past weekend was legit one of the best weekends of my life. I had my bridal shower and Bachelorette party! I'm going to list some do's and don'ts that I learned from this weekend and also some of my favorite moments!

Bridal Shower
My shower was at the Manatee River Garden Club. Such a beautiful location, A big thank you to my mom for her incredible hard work. Madi's Mom also for helping! Madi's Aunt Wendy for providing the beautiful flowers, champagne, and picture, and my family and bridesmaids for being such hard workers and being so good at taking direction.

DO's:

1) DO have a mimosa bar. Very popular with both champagne and sparkling drinks and it was delicious :)

2) DO  have a time where you open gifts with your guests present. Seeing some of the faces of people when I opened theirs was priceless.

3) DO play some kind of game or have an activity with your guests. We did writing on a bottle of champagne or sparkling grape juice for big life events like first pregnancy, first valentines day, first house, etc. We also do a question/answer called HE said SHE said and it was hilarious hearing some of the answers.

4) DO let your family/friends do the work and planning. I HATE not being able to plan every detail of an event (let alone not even knowing what was happening there until I got there)- but my shower was more than I could have ever planned myself, it was perfect.

DONT's:

1) DON'T ever ever ever put regrets only on the invitation. Definitely my mom's biggest regret (hehe). Out of the 100+ people invited, 15 sent regrets. I obviously knew better than thinking that many people would actually attend, so we overplanned for about 70 and had a little over 50. Lots of extra cinnamon roll cake ;).

2) DON'T forget to take a picture with each guest. It is a special momento of who was there that day! I am glad I did!

3) DON'T forget your tissues. Kari made me cry so hard with her Maid of Honor speech. I know there will be waterfalls at the wedding.

4) DON'T have multiple cheifs and not enough Indians. I am glad my family and bridesmaids worked well together and took direction easily from my mom!

Bachelorette Party
As for my Bachelorette party, we had the most fun I have ever had with all my friends. We did dinner, my lingerie shower, played games, and went out. AND I didn't throw up ;) (sorry older adults reading this I am proud). We went to the Disney's Dolphin Resort and did the boardwalk's Big River Grill for dinner, Jellyrolls, and Atlantic Dance Hall that night then Disney for those who wanted to the next day!

DO's: 

1) DO open your lingerie at your bachelorette party or a seperate shower. It would have been more than awkward opening that stuff in front of my family, but was so fun in front of just my friends.

2) DO let yourself have more fun and do things you normally wouldn't do. I'm the last one to YOLO rage, but I did start a conga line at the piano bar after getting on stage, and completed basically all of my scavenger hunt which had a ton of things I wouldn't do on the daily.

3) DO invite who YOU want there. A lot of people I talked to who are married gave me crap for inviting more than just my bridal party, but it was so much more fun the way I did it! I got to be with almost all of my closest friends (missed you Rach!) and we had an amazing time together.

4) DO play the Newleywed game. I answered questions Madi had previously answered and if I got one wrong had to eat a Vodka gummy bear (I was not about to take shots) and it was SO fun. Kari is a genius because some of his answers surprised me (in the sweetest way) and made him a part of the fun too!

DON'Ts:

1) DONT let people push you past your alcohol limit. I knew when I was done and I tapped out. Stand strong on what your head is telling you. I didn't get sick and didn't make a fool of myself while we were out by tripping in public or stumbling around. But I still had fun! It's possible I know it sounds crazy to you YOLOers out there.

2) DONT forget to take a ton of pictures. We took so many and I am so glad we did! They turned out so good.

3) DONT forget to tell everyone if you want them to wear something specific. I left this out while Kari was starting to plan, but we added it in at the end and again, pictures turned out amazing.

4) DONT get worked up if something doesn't go the way you had thought it would in your head. There were quite a few last minute changes/issues, but unlike the normal me I took them in stride and had a great weekend. I wouldn't have changed anything about it!

So that concludes it! Such an amazing weekend. And we are two months away from the big day! WHAT. Panic mode sets in now. Time to put decoupaging into full swing!

Happy wedding season!
-Olivia