All you have to do is show up, is exactly what my best friend said about my presence at my bachelorette party. All I could think was how could I just show up! I’m just getting together with my girlfriends that I only see once every year. If that. I’m seeing my cousins that I haven’t seen in 2 years. Life has an interesting way of making sure we’re still in each other’s lives despite the distance and time. Thereof, 9 girls made their way to Vegas from LA, Dallas, Biloxi, DC, and Nashville!
When we arrived at the airport in Vegas, my best friends Shemeka and Lauren were setting up transportation to our hotel! As we sorted through the details, we were met with an angry lady claiming that we broke the line for the bus to the hotel. Immediately, a debate commenced between all of us. Our vibes were almost thrown until Lauren leveled Shemeka and me out. “VEGAS. COSMOPOLITAN. We’re going to have a good time, ” she reminded us. So we snapped out of it. When we arrived at the hotel, my girls had put together the complete package for me. We had a bachelorette decorated suite overlooking the Fountains of Bellagio! My girls had ordered matching t-shirts and cups for the crew! Little did they know, I had some goodies for them too. I am a firm believer that you must reciprocate all gestures of kindness. Knowing that my girls were traveling for little ole me, I made sure they had a surprise in store too! Each of the girls received “Bride Tribe” bags and tattoos from a local Nashville shop, Love and Lion. They also received small clutch bags from Forever 21! And the best part, custom cookies from Baked In Nashville. We were all set for a weekend like none other!
I’ve never been a crew girl, so none of my bridesmaids come from the same tribe. We’re kind of all nomads that I tend to bring together! And this is what makes my friendships with each of them so great. There is something unique about being able to share a different perspective with individualistic women! I will add that I’ve been friends with everyone in my bridal party for well over 10 years and would entrust these girls with my whole heart!
If you’ve been to Vegas, you know that Cosmopolitan Hotel is in the middle of the strip! Its lavish lights, shops, and numerous eateries are to die for. This is exactly where we began before our night out on the town. My husband loves Bubba Gump Shrimp so I decided we would have our first feast at this location! From there, it was back to the room to greet our weekend breast pumper, my best friend Caray! She’d just flown in from Biloxi, breast pump in hand! If she was braving the weekend, we all knew we’d better be up to it too! We all primped and propped to the tunes of Jedena, Beyonce and more. To have all my girls in one place was a dream come true!
We started the first night at Tao: DJ Mustard’s party! My friends Amilca and Lauren made sure everyone was on the guest’s list before our arrival! When we got in, we slowly figured out that everyone gets on these guests list! HA! So that’s when my political friend, Nia stepped in! Next thing you know we were partying with DJ Mustard – whom I’d never heard of by the way! LOL! However, he is all the rage apparently! He’s got over a million IG followers. The first night wrapped in the wee hours of the morning with a pizza run in the Cosmopolitan before traveling up the 58 floors to our suite to crash!
We slept for about 3 hours. The getting ready party commenced again at around 10:30 am and we were off to the Marquee Dayclub for a pool party! While everyone was lounging around the pool, my girls and I livened up the setting by doing what we do best! We were having a blast! We later ended up at the PALMS casino and resort for pool party numero dos. By 7 pm, we took a nap and were back up by 9 getting ready for Metro Boomin’s party at Light! Once again, we were indulging in the luxuries of VIP life. My best friend Amilca made this happen! My cousins, Maria and Victoria came in from LA and our team was complete. Again, the night wrapped in the wee hours of the morning.
Day 3, we woke up to to the tunes of music again… adrenaline still thumping. We stopped at the juice bar downstairs in the Cosmopolitan and moved on to brunch at Hash House and a GoGo. Then, we were off to Ice Cube’s party where yet again, we found our way into VIP! I won’t digress on all of the happenings and secrets of each night because those are sacred memories, but I will tell you this group of women was living our best lives! That night, we were supposed to be in VIP at 1OAK, but we ended up staying in. A sleepover was the best option as we would all be traveling back to our normal lives. Can a girl cry now? I guess we had officially given Vegas all we had. We ate dinner at a restaurant downstairs in the hotel while my girls shared thoughtful memories of times when I told them I was done with Alex and they didn’t believe me! They were right! They gave good marriage advice. And I shed tears of gratitude for the women who have cheered for me when I didn’t know how to cheer for myself.
A bachelorette trip is just as necessary as any other aspect of planning a wedding. You need people around that you know mean you well. You need to know that they too will be there in sickness and health. Man, won’t a bachelorette party teach you that?!
