Why I'm Not Having A Bachelorette Party

When I first started wedding planning, I thought there were certain things that "made" you a bride: showers, veils, long white dresses and bachelorette parties among other things. Now, after a little over 8 months of planning our wedding, I've realized that this is far from the truth. After reading countless blogs and spending too many hours on wedding websites, I realized that what makes someone a bride is the fact that they will be marrying the love of their life. No matter if she does it at the courthouse with jeans on, she is a bride.

Now back to why I'm not having a bachelorette party. My bridal party consists of my two sisters, both of which are under the age of 21, Keegan's cousin, Audra, and our friend, Sarah. Since both of my sisters are under 21, we can't go bar hopping or clubbing, neither of which I am actually a fan of anyways. For the older girls to be able to partake in some adult beverages, we'd have to go to a restaurant. Bachelorette party at Applebee's? Not quite what I was thinking.

Second reason is, Sarah and Audra are not from Columbia where the wedding will be held. I can't and don't expect them to try and plan an itinerary for a place they don't know or have never been to.

Third, and probably the biggest reason that I'm not planning a bachelorette party is the fact that instead of having a traditional rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding, we are having more of a family and friends get together. I want to be able to spend as much time with our friends and family that are coming from out of city/state/country so it would feel rude to me to leave in the middle of this get together to hit the town with my girls. Doing a rehearsal, dinner, and then trying to squeeze in a bachelorette party just seems like too much for one night, anyways.

Originally, I thought of having a joint bachelor/bachelorette party with Keegan and his boys, but that was nixed pretty quickly. I'm sure his boys already have something planned for him and that doesn't include his bride and her younger sisters. I would never think to ask Keegan to cancel his bachelor party just because I won't be having a bachelorette party. The only thing I asked is that everyone comes back in one piece and some pictures are taken. I want to see what those crazy boys are up to!

Don't get me wrong, if the cards fell the right way, I would love to have a bachelorette party. Unfortunately, I can't make my sisters 21 before August (not that I'd want to, they're growing up so quickly as it is,) and I can't ask my girls to come all the way to Missouri on any other day. The reason the bachelor/bachelorette parties have to happen the night before the wedding is because so many of our wedding party are from out of city/state. They're already doing so much for us by standing by our sides during the wedding, I couldn't ask them to come out a different weekend and spend more money.

So those are some of the reasons that I'm not actively planning a bachelorette party. Now if my girls want to take me out to drinks after the family gathering, I wouldn't be opposed. We just have to wait for the younger girls to go to bed :-D