And never a Bride (at least for now…I am still working on that one). Surprisingly, I take great pride in being a bridesmaid from picking out and wearing the sometimes dreadful bridesmaid dress, helping the bride both plan for and enjoy the big day and, my favorite, planning the bachelorette party. After so many years and so many parties, my girls and I have this art down to a science including party games, food, alcohol, handling the expenses, etc. The machine is so well oiled that the only decision to make after the bride-to-be says “Yes” is deciding on the theme. With Joanna’s bachelorette party last weekend, any number of themes would have worked…
Anj and I were the last to arrive on Thursday evening and after a quick glass of wine at the Seattle airport bar, we were whisked away by Joanna’s sister Anita to the small town of Enumclaw WA for a night in Joanna’s new house and a drink at the local biker bar – the only non-residential building in the 500 person town. Possible Theme #1 – Roadhouse – the bar was complete with fire-pit out front, Harleys lined up in the parking lot, and plenty of leather clad burly bikers.
The following morning we woke up early and prepared for the drive out to Leavenworth WA, the Bavaria of Washington. Possible Theme #2 – Loving the Leiderhosen – the town was straight out of Germany with stylized buildings, German restaurants and yodelers …or at least that is what the city website said and showed…we still had to get there.
So we all piled into the family SUV – Joanna, Anita, Anj, Erin, Neff and me – with Keneta following in her car, and we were off….first stop, Shangri-la to check out the campsite and wedding location (and yes those are the same place) where we were able to visual the wedding and pee in some bushes. Possible Theme #3 – Troop Beverly Hills - our outdoor skills were exemplary, including an additional pee stop along the side of the mountain highway (due to too many beers at lunch) and our love of nature… And when I say “love of nature” I mean fear of bugs…I spotted a large potato bug inside the car after our second pee break resulting in an emergency stop along side of the freeway and a fire drill evacuation of the car to get the bug out.
We finally arrive in Leavenworth, the Bavarian town on a river we had been promised and the new bachelor/bachelorette party capital of WA. No joke, there were at least 10 other bridal parties all celebrating their upcoming nuptials in the little town of 5,000 on that weekend alone. Possible Theme #4 – Bride Wars – while it was fun in theory to hang out with what appeared to be a bachelorette party convention, 10+ brides all thinking that it was their special weekend, and their’s alone proved otherwise… Joanna almost got into a fight with another bride and thanks to our many years of experience, all of the other parties just didn’t measure up resulting in dirty looks and possible death threats.
At the end we went with “Rip Roaring Rapids” as our theme… we were going “rafting” after all and Joanna’s past dating life was, how do you say, less than a lazy river. And while the theme we chose seemed appropriate at the beginning of the trip, we hit a minor snag along the way…the river we had planned to float was too high and our only option was Class 3 rafting…given that you can’t drink while navigating class 3 rapids we opted for just the beach along the river…Thankfully Joanna had her own bridal inner tube to float on.
Anj and I were the last to arrive on Thursday evening and after a quick glass of wine at the Seattle airport bar, we were whisked away by Joanna’s sister Anita to the small town of Enumclaw WA for a night in Joanna’s new house and a drink at the local biker bar – the only non-residential building in the 500 person town. Possible Theme #1 – Roadhouse – the bar was complete with fire-pit out front, Harleys lined up in the parking lot, and plenty of leather clad burly bikers.
The following morning we woke up early and prepared for the drive out to Leavenworth WA, the Bavaria of Washington. Possible Theme #2 – Loving the Leiderhosen – the town was straight out of Germany with stylized buildings, German restaurants and yodelers …or at least that is what the city website said and showed…we still had to get there.
So we all piled into the family SUV – Joanna, Anita, Anj, Erin, Neff and me – with Keneta following in her car, and we were off….first stop, Shangri-la to check out the campsite and wedding location (and yes those are the same place) where we were able to visual the wedding and pee in some bushes. Possible Theme #3 – Troop Beverly Hills - our outdoor skills were exemplary, including an additional pee stop along the side of the mountain highway (due to too many beers at lunch) and our love of nature… And when I say “love of nature” I mean fear of bugs…I spotted a large potato bug inside the car after our second pee break resulting in an emergency stop along side of the freeway and a fire drill evacuation of the car to get the bug out.
We finally arrive in Leavenworth, the Bavarian town on a river we had been promised and the new bachelor/bachelorette party capital of WA. No joke, there were at least 10 other bridal parties all celebrating their upcoming nuptials in the little town of 5,000 on that weekend alone. Possible Theme #4 – Bride Wars – while it was fun in theory to hang out with what appeared to be a bachelorette party convention, 10+ brides all thinking that it was their special weekend, and their’s alone proved otherwise… Joanna almost got into a fight with another bride and thanks to our many years of experience, all of the other parties just didn’t measure up resulting in dirty looks and possible death threats.
At the end we went with “Rip Roaring Rapids” as our theme… we were going “rafting” after all and Joanna’s past dating life was, how do you say, less than a lazy river. And while the theme we chose seemed appropriate at the beginning of the trip, we hit a minor snag along the way…the river we had planned to float was too high and our only option was Class 3 rafting…given that you can’t drink while navigating class 3 rapids we opted for just the beach along the river…Thankfully Joanna had her own bridal inner tube to float on.
I guess in the end, the theme isn’t that crucial…other than when picking out the embarrassing outfit for the bride!
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