Happy to report back with raving reviews from #SceneGirl Jess's bachelorette weekend in Charleston, SC. What an amazing weekend and even better bachelorette party destination.
Thursday
Lindsey traveled to Charleston with her BFF #SceneGirl Megan and were immediately greeted by one of their favorite #BacheloretteChic favors, "no crease hair ties"!
Believe it or not, Charleston has a huge party scene. Thursday night was spent bar hopping and getting to know the locals, or shall we say Southern gentleman. There wasn't one door that was opened, or drink that wasn't bought for us, which was a pleasant surprise for us South Florida girls. It just so happens that some of the Southern gents we met were the masterminds behind Boxxle, a 3-liter premium wine despenser. Of course we picked their minds and expressed our love for wine with them. We danced the night away and requested song after song at a fun college bar, Republic. No, we are not "too old" to enjoy the Charleston college crowd.
Friday
It's difficult to get 14 girls to rally after a long night out on the town, but we surprised ourselves with the ability to nurse a hangover and look good doing it. All it took was a greasy breakfast and mimosa at Toast of Charleston, and we were ready for a day of shopping in downtown Charleston.
Anything you need to know about the shopping in Charleston can be described one word: Vestique. We have never experienced such adorable clothes, accessories, and jewelry in one place. All 14 of us spent a good two hours browsing, trying things on, browsing some more, and repeating "Oh my gosh, this is so cute". The icing on the cake was their prices. Each one of us dropped at least $120, but were able to walk out with over 6 items. Lucky for all of you, they have an online boutique where you can order directly from the store. Check them out, you will not regret it.
Friday night was our traditional "Bride in White" night, where Jess wore white and the rest of us wore black. This is a staple #BacheloretteChic theme that every bride should require during a bachelorette party weekend.
After dinner, we went back to our decorated hotel room for some #BacheloretteChic games. Each girl brought Jess an unwrapped piece of lingerie for her honeymoon and she had to guess who brought what. Not even realizing it, Lindsey bought the most "conservative" piece of the event. Sorry Jess, we promise we don't want you covered up, just comfortable ;)
The next game is a #SceneGirl personal favorite to play during bachelorette parties. Lindsey emailed the groom a list of 20 questions and the bride had to answer on his behalf. If Jess got the answer wrong, she had to drink, and if she got it right, we all had to drink. For example: Gabe, what would you say is your favorite physical attribute about the bride? Jess would answer what she thinks is his favorite, which was her eyes in case you're wondering.
We can't go on a bachelorette party without having a banner by JKreations. Amy custom made a banner to go along with Jess's bachelorette hashtag: #GabeGotABabe. There's nothing better than having a customized banner like this to pose in front of during a pre-party.
Note to all future grooms: this is a must. Send your bride-to-be flowers, champagne, or some kind of gift on her bachelorette party. Good job Gabe!
It was time to hit the town after all the fun and games. Because of the new friends and connections we made, we were able to skip lines and get into TRIO, one of the main clubs downtown. Another fun crowd filled with Southern gents, great music, and dancing. We were lucky enough to have a wine bar across the street from our hotel for a final night cap with Drew (the most adorable bartender ever). He had us oohing, ahhing over his Southern charm and personality.
Saturday
Nothing could prepare us for the exhaustion and hangover that came on Saturday.
Bliss, founder of BlissSplash taking a moment to herself on the Charleston cobblestones. We were all feeling her pain.
However, we were somehow able to pull it together and make it to brunch at High Cotton, a 'must see' Charleston spot. They filmed a scene of the Notebook at this restaurant, which was all the motivation we needed. That was probably one of our favorite parts about being in Charleston, you couldn't walk the streets without recognizing a scene from the Notebook. Yes, we attempted to lay in the middle of the street and watch the the street lights change, but it made for a very dangerous situation during rush hour....
Saturday was our busiest (and cutest) day. With our #BacheloretteChic tanks by Geneologie, we made a scene at the Irvin House Winery & Distillery. If available, we highly recommend booking a wine tasting during a bachelorette weekend. It's a great bonding experience, and makes for the best pictures. In addition to the beautiful vineyard was a petting zoo, live band, and distillery.
Hangovers didn't stop some of us from going on the FireFly liquor tasting, which was surprisingly not bad. Not being huge liquor drinkers, some of us were a little nervous for this part. To our amazement, the liquor was delicious, we didn't even need chasers!
Lauren was our guide throughout the day, and we had a blast with her. She really enhanced our entire experience at the Irvin House. She offered to take pictures and didn't judge us on the amount of selfies we took shortly after.
Following the Irvin House, we made our way back into town for blow dry appointments at Tease. They're clearly used to working with large bachelorette parties, because they accommodated our group and got through 14 blowdrys in no time. They were awesome.
Saturday night was "Gatsby Night" where we were all dressed to the nines in our 20s best. Dinner was spent in a private room at Vincent Chicco's where the wine flowed and the conversation was intimate. This was probably our favorite dinner of the entire trip.
It's hard to believe that 14 girls can go on a trip and get along for an entire weekend without drama, but that was never an option. It's safe to say we all fell in love with each other by the end of the vacation. We also highly recommend doing a 'shared album' on your iPhone. This allows all the members of the album to upload and share pictures throughout the weekend. There were times where girls left bars early, or were not around for certain moments, but we were able to capture them all and share them on the photo stream for all to see. Such a great idea!
When you discover a good thing, you don't let it go. Following dinner, we made our way back to TRIO for another night of drinks, dancing, and good music. There's nothing better than channeling your inner rap star with a group of dancing girls. It was fun to experience that "college feel" again, and TRIO brought that out in all of us. Definitely, a must for any group traveling to Charleston looking for a fun night out.
Sunday
Sunday morning was a rough one. There may have been an airport pizza order at 8:45am and an exploding starbucks cup when we were checking in for our flight...oops! We DON'T recommend 11am flights back from Bachelorette parties.
All in all, we had such an amazing weekend celebrating our friend, Jessica in Charleston. It goes to show just how special she is because of the everlasting bonds she has created with this group of people during her lifetime, and we couldn't be happier to be a part of her wedding day. Stay tuned for more as we take over Key West in October!