I truly cannot believe bachelor/bachelorette party season is already here! My Maid of Honor and I had been planning my bachelorette party for the past 4-5 months, and the fact that it has now already came and went has me shook (because this also means the wedding is two months away!) If you follow along on Instagram, you likely have already seen some of the posts, but today I wanted to share a full bachelorette party recap.
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Diving into the bachelorette party planning process felt very easy breezy. I knew exactly what kind of vibe I wanted for the party (Pinterest was a major help here in making the vision come to life!) and what activities I wanted to do which really helped me narrow down a location.
I will admit, planning anything wedding-related can be so interesting because on the one hand you just want to ball out because (hopefully) you only do this once so why not do something extravagant, but on the other hand, you’re also planning a wedding which is likely to be your most expensive year with how much anything wedding-related costs for the actual day itself. That being said, I wanted to go somewhere out of state that didn’t require a plane ticket to get there, somewhere where we could drive to that’s just far enough away to where you feel like you’re getting away, but also on a budget. So I decided on Vancouver BC! A bigger city, only a 2.5 hour drive away from Seattle, and a different vibe to really feel like a little getaway – and it accomplished just that!
Some of my back-up options if I truly wanted to ball out not on a budget were New York City, San Diego, or Laguna Beach – but maybe those can just be future girls trips when I’m not in the middle of one of the most expensive years of my life!
Knowing my personality and lifestyle, and that of my friends/bridesmaids’ as well, the theme was slumber party and it was a hit! Activities consisted of movie night, game night, face masks/skincare, a group yoga class, nature walk, bike ride, shopping, brunch, and girls night out. It was one of the most fun weekends I’ve had!
I had built out our weekend agenda through a Canva template – sharing the agenda here for your inspiration!
We stayed at a cute Airbnb right in downtown Vancouver and it was super convenient to get around. I wanted to be somewhere in the city where we didn’t have to worry about city driving and finding/paying for parking and where we could just walk most places. I think the only driving we did the entire weekend (aside from getting to/from Seattle) was to the mountain for our nature walk. We of course took Ubers during our GNO as well for safety of walking around a big city after dark and wearing high heels, but other than that, were able to walk everywhere else! If you’re looking for a convenient spot to stay in the city, I’ve included the link to where we stayed here.
Our day one evening agenda after making the drive from Seattle was pretty chill and consisted of decorating the Airbnb with all of the decor we brought with us, a grocery run for snacks to have throughout the weekend (Costco was literally right next to our Airbnb outside of the stadiums which was honestly so random in the middle of a big city but came in so clutch for the weekend!), take-out dinner, followed by movie night (bridal movies were of course the theme here) with 27 Dresses being the movie of choice for the night.
On day two, we started the day with a slow morning and breakfast at our Airbnb. I also handed out everyone’s gifts for the weekend – everyone loved them! Picking out gifts for my bridesmaids during the party planning process was one of my favorite parts because there are SO many options out there – the party favor options really are endless when you turn to Pinterest and Etsy for inspiration. To match the slumber party theme, I gifted my bridesmaids custom tote bags for the weekend, reusable water bottles, tank tops, slippers, monogram travel jewelry cases, heart-shaped sunglasses, and (my favorite item) the Bach Club t-shirts! All items were from Etsy and I’ve linked them all here.
Following the gift-giving, we headed out for the day’s adventures by doing some shopping at Sephora, H&M, and Aritzia before making our way over to Stanley Park to rent the cutest pink bikes. We biked just about the entirety of Stanley Park over the course of a few hours, making a pitstop for lunch at Stanley’s Bar & Grill, and biking through the English Bay beach area before returning the bikes. We rented the pink bikes from Freedom Bikes in Vancouver – linked here! After biking about 9 miles and doing so much walking around the city that day, safe to say we were pretty pooped by the time the evening rolled around. We did another take-out dinner followed by girls’ night-in playing a few different bachelorette party games (linked the games I printed off of Etsy here and here, and non-Etsy here), and of course, For the Girls.
Day three was probably my favorite day out of the weekend – it was a jam-packed day but we did so many fun activities! We had a nice, relaxing start to the day by doing an early morning private group yoga class at STRETCH, located in Chinatown, Vancouver! Truthfully, the location was not super ideal as it was located in a sketch part of town and saw some pretty wild things on the walk over, but the studio itself was awesome – the best part was a puppy yoga class was happening right after our group session ended so we had a few minutes of golden retriever puppy petting/admiring and it truly made the day.
Following yoga, we drove about an hour north of Vancouver to Squamish for the Sea to Sky Gondola. Of course, the day we chose to do this activity happened to be the worst day weather-wise because it was absolutely downpouring with very minimal visibility to see the view from the top of the mountain. While that definitely wasn’t ideal (and feel like I need to go back on a sunny day to actually see the view I missed from being up in the clouds), it was still a ton of fun to wander around the trails for short nature walks and walk across the suspension bridge. Would highly recommend for an outing in the greater Vancouver area!
We ended our very active day with a GNO, taking cute pics with all of our decor and props for the weekend, face masks, and game night. Our GNO consisted of getting dressed up and heading out to the bars – our favorite was the Parker Rooftop which had such an aesthetic and classy vibe (things I love!) and of course creating a “Buy the Bride a Drink” graphic for socials. Linking the template we purchased here!
I’ve linked my GNO outfit below! My Cult Gaia feather bag + Prada sunglasses were rented from Borrow Me Bridal – you can use my code KELSIE10 to save $ when you rent for your upcoming bridal festivities!
On the last day, we went out to brunch at Jam Cafe and it was so good! It was only about a 5-minute walk from our Airbnb and the restaurant had a very Canadian vibe to it with all of the decor that was hanging on the walls. Would highly recommend their french toast if you go for brunch! Post-brunch activities consisted of tearing down all of our decor at the condo and cleaning everything up before making the drive back home.
All in all, it was one of the best weekends and really filled my cup! Now it’s wedding time – less than 10 weeks to go!!
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Thanks for reading!
XX
Kelsie
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