Happy Wedding Wednesday! It's all about my bachelorette weekend today, and I'm sharing everywhere we stayed, ate, and played in Palm Beach, Florida!
It's gonna be a long one, so keep scrolling for everything! It was the BEST weekend with my best friends, and clearly we got tons of photos!
Friday
Madeline and I had a 6:00am flight out of Richmond, so we had stayed there at her friend's house Thursday night, and were up-and-attem early for Friday morning our flight to LaGuardia. The 3:00am wake-up call was painful, but the sunrise that morning was stunning!We had serendipitous-ly ended up on the same flight down to Palm Beach as our other three friends, so we met up with them for our second flight from New York to Palm Beach.
We arrived in Florida a little before noon, and we checked into our hotel right away (the Hyatt Place in West Palm Beach, I love Hyatt Places). Madeline stalled me for a little while and when we got up to the room, Nancy Carrie, Sarah, and Emma were playing music and had decorated the room with the cutest palm decorations, gift bags, and SO MUCH GLITTER. It was SO fun and the perfect way to get the weekend started!
Spoiler alert: housekeeping didn't come ONCE the entire weekend, so we had to call for more towels and trash removal multiple times. I'm sure they hated us after all the glitter disbursement, but maybe it brightened their day at least a LITTLE (I hope?? Please don't charge us!)
After our half-day of traveling we were all starving, so we walked to Banko Cantina near the hotel for lunch. The vibe in there was SO cool, they had really interesting lantern light fixtures adorning the entire ceiling, and gold skulls lining the side of the bar. Upstairs was a nightclub filled with velvet couches and huge mirrors. They also played all my favorite 90's alternative hits, which I loved. We ordered a pitcher of red sangria and chips, salsa, and guac to start us off, and then I ordered the grilled vegetable skewer for my entree.
After lunch, we did a little walking around and popped into a couple of stores, before going to Publix and a liquor store to get some cocktail ingredients.
After that, we headed back to our hotel. One of the BEST parts about staying at that particular hotel that we weren't expecting was that they had a shuttle bus that you could call that would take you to or pick you up from anywhere within a two mile radius of the hotel, which saved us SO much money on Ubers/Lyfts.
One thing to note about Palm Beach is that it is made up of two sections, Palm Beach and West Palm Beach, which are separated by the intercoastal waterway. To me they felt like all the same city since it's just a quick ride over the bridge to Palm Beach proper (our hotel was in West Palm Beach), but Palm Beach is markedly "fancier" feeling (home to The Breakers, The Colony Hotel, and Worth Avenue), even though the whole area is absolutely gorgeous. We spent approximately an equal time in both Palm Beach and WPB.
When we got back to the hotel, we made some drinks and took our time getting ready for the night while talking and jamming to some music (Jonas Brothers, new and old obvi).
Before dinner, we took
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| Dress: ASTR The Label | Shoes: Steve Madden |
The girls had made reservations at Avocado Grill which was even cuter and more amazing than it sounds (we were seated at the table featured on the home page of their website!) I got the cucumber gin smash cocktail and the spicy garlic Japanese eggplant, which was SO good.
While we were there, we ran into another girl who was there on her bachelorette weekend too, so I got a photo with her. She was super sweet and I hope she and her girls had as good a weekend as we did!
After dinner, we went next door to E.R. Bradley's for drinks and dancing because we had seen it while we were taking photos and it looked like a great time. It was SUCH a fun environment there, a majority of the restaurant was outside under a cabana.
Nancy Carrie had made a checklist of things to do during the trip, one of which was to get a bartender to name a drink after you. The bartender asked what I liked made me a drink (called the Laura, naturally) with gin, citrus, and soda that was so good!
After we had been there for a little while, they started setting up a mechanical bull... you KNOW we had to get in on that, especially after the manager sent shots out for us. I have no idea how long I made it on the bull, but Emma was a natural at it!
After we'd had our fill at the bar, we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest (Madeline and I had been up for basically two days straight!)
Saturday
On Saturday morning, we got a relatively early start so that we could catch breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast, we went back to our room to get ready and headed over to The Breakers to do some exploring.The Breakers is an absolutely breathtaking resort that's right on the beach and has the most beautiful courtyards, restaurants, bars, shops, and pools all on the property.
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| Cami | Similar Skirt | Wedges | Bag | Sunglasses |
After living our luxury fantasies at The Breakers, we grabbed a ride to Surfside Diner for some lunch. I got the caprese panini with sweet potato fries which didn't look like much when they brought it out, but was SO delicious! Everyone loved their food, I'd definitely recommend it for a quick lunch.
One of the things we knew we HAD to see in Palm Beach was The Colony Hotel, so we headed there after lunch. If you've ever seen photos of The Colony, on Instagram or otherwise, then you know that it may be THE cutest most photogenic hotel on the planet. It definitely exceeded the hype in my opinion, every inch of the place is adorned in pink and palm print, including an extra-long golf cart they had parked outside, complete with a pink Colony-branded Yeti cooler.
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| Cami | Similar Skirt | Wedges | Bag | Sunglasses |
Fun fact - contrary to what Instagram might have you believe, not every level of the Colony is pink. In fact, we had to check four floors before finding the pink one! They also have yellow, blue, and green.
Once we had had our fill of the gorgeous Colony, we headed a couple of blocks over to Worth Avenue for some expert-level window shopping. Worth Avenue is one of the most impressive shopping districts in the country, and is often referred to as the Rodeo Drive of Palm Beach. We were in heaven among all the diamonds and designer goods (and luxury cars!)
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| Cami | Similar Skirt | Wedges | Bag | Sunglasses |
Nancy Carrie had ordered some tattoos of Kenny's face which were freaking hilarious, so we decided to wear them to go out that night. Unfortunately only 3/5 survived the application process, but they were amazing nonetheless. The number of people who asked me if mine was real is... Questionable? Embarrassing? Hahaha.
Our first top for the night was at Meat Market for drinks, where we had planned to get a Lilly Pulitzer drink they had, but apparently they don't serve it anymore. We opted for Pimm's cups, Moscow mules, and tangerine martinis instead, all of which were delicious.
We were supposed to get dinner at Buccan, but they messed up our reservation, so instead we got a reservation at Bice, an absolutely dreamy Italian restaurant. It was packed there so service there left a little to be desired, but the food (and two bread baskets) more than made up for it. We were in heaven (so much so that I forgot to take a photo of our food!) I got the pappardelle al telefono alla Bice, aka large noodles in a tomato cream sauce, fresh mozzarella, and basil; it was perfection.
Next was the main attraction of the night: a drag show at Roosters! I had never been to a drag show before, and I was SO excited. They were serving $3 Long Islands, so we loaded up on those and waited for the show to start.
The host came around before the show to greet people, and as soon as she saw we were there for a bachelorette party, I knew it was over for us.
About halfway through the show, she called us up on stage and introduced/lightly roasted us. It was SO much fun! They made me take a blowjob shot off the stage in front of everyone... which I have a video of that will never leave my phone, haha! We got a group photo, the quality of which you'll have to excuse, thanks in advance. The lights were so bright! (And a special thanks to Madeline's friend who met up with us and was able to capture those moments/blackmail material. 😂)
After the show, we went back to E.R. Bradley's because it had been so much fun the previous night, and was within walking distance of our hotel. It ended up raining for the rest of the night, but fortunately that was the only bad weather we had the entire weekend.
Sunday
On Sunday we had brunch reservations at Ta-boo, which is on Worth Avenue. We got there a little early, so we browsed a couple of shops beforehand. When we got inside, we were greeted with the CUTEST Palm Beach-elegant decor that I've ever seen. There were mirrors everywhere, palm print painted right onto the walls, sparkly black granite table tops, an all-white fish tank behind the bar, and too many other adorable details to name. The photos on their website hardly do it justice! And it has a rich history to complement the gorgeous interior, it's been open since before WWII and hosted many celebrities including John F. Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.They had the best "bread" basket that included cinnamon raisin bagels, cranberry muffins, and my FAVORITE - lemon poppyseed muffins! I also HAD to order one of their famous bloody Mary's, which may have been the best bloody Mary I've ever had. Nancy Carrie and I both got the Belgian waffles with ice cream which were SO good, we couldn't even finish them! I didn't want to leave there, I'd go there for brunch every Sunday if I had the chance.
After brunch we had plans to hit the beach, but first took a detour to Lilly Pulitzer's old house. It was so cute, and the other homes in the neighborhood were unbelievably gorgeous, as was to be expected from one of the wealthiest zip codes in America.
We also found some plumeria flowers on the ground along the way, so we put them in our hair took a photo to send to Emma's dad.
After paying a visit to Lilly, we finally hit the beach! The water was SO warm, I always get cold in the ocean no matter what, and this was the first time that I didn't. A black cloud had been looming nearby most of the day, and we started seeing lightning hit the water in the distance, so after a while of floating, we thought it would be in our best interest not to get electrocuted in the Atlantic that day.
Luckily it never actually rained, so we spent the next hour or so laying out half-napping in the sun. We could've stayed there all day, but we had to get back to shower and change because we had a sunset cruise to get to!
After we were all clean and shiny, we had a little time to kill before the cruise, so we walked to the Restoration Hardware that was right near our hotel. I am OB-SESSED with Restoration Hardware, I love walking around the store (with a glass of prosecco, of course). As a matter of fact, I unknowingly made Kenny and myself LATE for our engagement because I didn't want to leave the Nashville location, ha!
At 6:30, our sunset cruise through Get Wet Watersports departed from Sailfish Marina. I LOVE cruises and water tours, and it was one of the things I knew for sure I wanted to do during our trip. We sailed with Captain Troy and Kendall, and they were both great. The trip lasted over two hours; the first half consisted of Troy taking us down the coast of Palm Beach and telling us about many of the waterfront homes as we passed them. We saw houses that belonged to the presidents of NBC and ABC, FAO Schwarz, and the National Enquirer. We even saw the house where that guy drove his Farrari off the dock. 😂
We also learned on the cruise that Palm Beach is one of the safest places to vacation BECAUSE of how many wealthy people reside there. Security there is robust, and they even have facial and license plate recognition cameras covering the entire area (meaning, they know who has entered and who has left). There is also a large police presence in the area; one of our drivers told is that it's because Palm Beach is also home to the Trump International Golf Club.
Included in the price of the cruise ticket was unlimited food and drinks. They served beer, wine, sangria, and soda, along with a really good selection of bagged chips, popcorn, pretzels, etc. as well as a fruit platter that we DEFINITELY got our money's worth out of!
During sunset, the narrated part of the tour concluded and they cut the lights and turned some music on so we could watch the sunset on the beautiful West Palm Beach skyline as we headed back to the marina. There was a particularly beautiful sunset that night, we got so lucky! I loved everything we did all weekend, but this was definitely the best way to top it off.
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| Dress (runs small, size up 1-2 sizes) |
After the cruise, we were all a a little drunk and ready for a real dinner. We had spotted the Sailfish Marina Restaurant on the waterfront on the way in, and decided that would be the perfect place to end the night.
I ordered the roasted beet salad, and the Le Grand fizz which was basically my ideal cocktail: Grey Goose, St. Germain, soda water, and lime. I definitely want to try to recreate it at home! All of the drinks on their cocktail menu looked amazing, as did the food.
After dinner, we couldn't bear the thought of going back to the hotel yet, so we sat at the edge of the dock with our feet in the water and watched the fish. Florida ocean water is SO different to the North Carolina beaches that I'm used to; the water is so clear and absolutely brimming with fish like an aquarium, it was so cool! Earlier in the night, we saw a swarm of people at the edge of the dock saying that they saw a shark, but we thought it was just one of the longer fish swimming around. Sure enough, right as my friends and I stood up to leave for the night, we saw an honest-to-goodness little shark swimming right beneath our feet. So cool!
Monday
Just like that, the weekend had come and gone! Time really does fly when you're having fun with your best friends, laughing, drinking, and eating amazing food in the sunshine. After we finished packing up, we got breakfast at the hotel and were on our way!It truly was THE best weekend, I couldn't have asked for more! My friends went above and beyond to make sure that I felt special and had the best time, and I'm already looking forward to our next girls' trip together, whenever that may be!
Nancy Carrie, Madeline, Emma, and Sarah, you girls are the real deal and I'm so grateful to have each one of you in my life!
#BusicGetsBaked
xoxx, Laura
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