The Second Funnest Thing About Planning a Wedding - The Bachelorette Party

Blessed with amazingly fun sisters and girlfriends I've gotten a chance to go on some really great destination bachelorette parties without breaking the bank. While planning for my friend's bachelorette this upcoming summer (tomorrow actually!), I thought it might be a good idea (plus an excuse to reminisce) about two destination parties I've had the honor of attending. Hopefully, this will help a first-time bridesmaid plan one

1. St. Thomas, USVI

In 2009, 11 of us girls spent four days at the Frenchman's Reef and Morningstar Bay in St. Thomas. We booked two units by the beach and I remember paying some ridiculously cheap rate at less than $100/person for our stay. As luck would have it, one of the bridesmaid knew someone who worked for Marriott and was able to get us an employee rate for the rooms. Still, when I was researching units at the newly built Marriott timeshare right next to this resort, I found two-bedroom units renting at $250/night which would have been comparable to what we spent back then.

[aerial view of the hotel]

I know that St. Thomas isn't necessarily one of those places you immediately think of when planning for a bachelorette because it is a beach town and you're suppose to just relax and do nothing. But surprisingly, we always ended up at a fun bar/club every night we were there. Cab drivers were always friendly and trustworthy, and we were never short of things to do.

[at a local bar near the hotel]

During one of the days, the group decided to take the ferry to St. John to see Trunk Bay...and I would have to say that I've never seen a more beautiful beach than that.

[beautiful Trunk Bay]

In all, I anticipated that each person spent about $400 on hotel and airfare. I actually spent even less than that because I used frequent flier miles which made my flight free! I ended up booking it last minute and was able to use just 25,000 US Airways points for my round trip flight.

Last bit of money saving advice, we purchased bottles of alcohol at duty free while we were still on the aplane. We did alot of pregaming so that we wouldn't spend so much money at the bars. One of the girls also met a chef during one of our nights out and he offered to cook us dinner at his restaurant one night. Lastly, with the bride's savvy bargaining skills, she was able to convince the manager to give each one of us girls one free meal per day at either the breakfast buffet or the beachfront restaurant. Yes, we worked hard for our food =) Good times!

2. Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Playa del Carmen is one of those places that I wouldn't mind going to every year. It's such a versatile destination that would be good for a romantic getaway, family vacation, and yes, even a bachelorette party! Because I had previously visited, it made it a bit easier for me to plan my older sister's bachelorette party last year and again for my friend's bachelorette party this year. Gee, can you tell that I really like PdC??

In 2010, booking our flight was super easy. I found a deal on AirMexicana (since bankrupt) that cost each person only $297 each round trip. In terms of accommodations, we booked a three bedroom beachfront condo that cost each person $133 for the 4 days that we were there. For the eight girls that went, the condo was plenty big for everyone. A huge plus was that the condo was literally ON the beach - meaning you open the patio door and your first step is sand. You can book it here: http://aquazulplaya.com/ (we booked Ocean Plaza 3)

[view as soon as you open the patio door]

The location of this condo was perfect. Out on the beach was a beachfront massage place which according to my friend only cost $25/hr. I'm still kicking myself for not getting a massage there but you better believe that I'm going to get one everyday next time I go! One block from our condo was "club row". Alot of the bars and clubs were located there and we frequented Blue Parrot which was a beachfront bar/club. Ok, frequented means we went there EVERY night! It was just so much fun and the music was great that we didn't feel the need to go anywhere else. Although we did try other places, we always ended the night there.

For some daytime fun an adventure, we also booked an all day tour zip lining, cliff jumping, and cave snorkeling with a company called Edventure (http://www.edventure.org/). We opted for a shorter version of the tour they offer and paid $80/person including transportation. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip and we all got to do something we would never do... like zip lining upside down!

[Yup, it's as fun as it looks!]

[walking around the cute streets of PdC]

To save money on drinks, we walked to a local convenient store and bought rum and juice there. The condo came with a blender and we made our own blended drinks for the beach everyday. The food was pretty inexpensive as well. We did have one dinner on the expensive side but otherwise, we ordered pizza or went to a well known taco place that was really cheap. In total, each person spent $540 which includes airfare, accommodations, airport transportation, and the all day excursion.

So that's it for now! Next recap: last year's Bachelorette party to New Orleans and the one I'm going to tomorrow back in Playa del Carmen =)