How to Plan a Wedding-Weekend Bachelorette Party

If the bride's best friends live all across the country (or maybe even the world), it can be a huge undertaking to get everyone together for a bachelorette party; that's especially true if it's happening fairly close to your wedding—guests will soon have to travel again for the big day. If this simply isn't feasible for your crew, the bride-to-be might ask that the bachelorette party take place the same weekend as the wedding. Similar to planning a bachelorette party during any other weekend, you'll still go through the processes of selecting a venue, sending invitations, planning activities and entertainment, and executing the event with all the bells and whistles. However, these are the extra steps you'll want to take to making sure a wedding-weekend bachelorette party goes off without a hitch.

Consider the rest of the weekend agenda.

This event is all about the bride, but the wedding weekend is about the two of them as a couple. If you know that the bride and her soon-to-be spouse have already planned a welcome party or rehearsal dinner, it might be hard to fit a bachelorette party in, too. If the agenda is already packed and she really want to have a bachelorette party during the weekend, may need to consider daytime activities instead.

Share the plan very far in advance.

If the bride wants her bachelorette party to take place the same weekend as the wedding, your guests need to know about this prior to booking their wedding travel. They may need to adjust their hotel stays and flights accordingly, so you'll want to let those attending the bachelorette party know about this plan around the same time as the save-the-dates are sent.

Keep it low-key.

If the bride has always dreamed of a bachelorette party that goes non-stop, a wedding-weekend event likely ins't for her. Rather than a wild night out, this should be more of a restful, rejuvenating celebration. Consider a wine tasting, spa day, or some other more low-key type of event.

Choose an alternate location.

If the wedding is a destination event that all the guests are traveling to attend, it's likely that everyone will be staying in the same hotel. In order to make the bachelorette party feel special rather than an extension of the wedding, head off-site. Maybe there's an amazing spa nearby, a winery where you can enjoy a private tasting, or a yacht that you can charter for a sunset dinner. You might even stay at a different hotel for a night or rent a cool vacation house for a few days leading up to the wedding.

Create an itinerary.

It might be tempting to just assume you'll lounge around the hotel pool, grab a bite to eat at a local restaurant, and then find an evening activity on-site, but this is definitely not the time to wing it. Just because it's a wedding-weekend bachelorette party doesn't mean you're off the hook in terms of planning. If your bride is food obsessed, attend a cooking class and go wine tasting. Then, invite everyone back to the hotel for a grown-up slumber party followed by a gourmet breakfast in the morning. The idea is to create an itinerary that includes activities everyone can participate in, as well as some low-key downtime so the bride, her bridesmaids, and other bachelorette party guests have enough energy to get through multiple days of celebrating, wedding included. As soon as you have the itinerary planned, share the basic outline with your guests, giving them plenty of time to plan their trips.