Wedding Blog

We’re back! After two weeks in Europe, the Dude and I made it back to Austin! We haven’t even been home long enough to ditch the jet lag, but I’m almost ready to start blogging about our trip. First, though, is the obligatory bachelorette party post. I was holding out blogging about it until I got some more photos, but I think I’ve scrounged up enough at this point.

A few of the ladies who made it to the par-tay. Kelli, me, Anne, Abi, and Katie.

Ten days before the wedding, MOH Deniz flew down from Queens. We hadn’t seen each other in two years, so we had some serious catching up to do! She got right down to planning the bachelorette party, with a little feedback from me and some assistance from our friend, Amanda.

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My first request was that we stay in a funky, kitschy locale—the Austin Motel. It’s basically an Austin landmark, right in the heart of the hip South Congress area. Unfortunately, my bachelorette party was scheduled to take place during Labor Day weekend, so most places were full, including Austin Motel. Not to worry! My MOH booked us a room at the Hyatt, which is right on Lady Bird Lake. We managed to get a room on the only floor with a balcony, which had incredible views of the Austin skyline. It was the perfect place to get the party started with a champagne toast. (Right after a spontaneous icebreaker where everyone shared their favorite Miss Mouse-having-too-much-to-drink story. Oops! I didn’t realize I had so many!)

Photo by Katie

Seriously, check out this ridiculous view!

Because we felt like it, we had dessert before dinner.

For dinner, we walked a few blocks to a restaurant on South Congress that I had been dying to try: Perla’s, which specializes in oysters and other seafood. They had at least six different varieties of oysters on the half shell, and we tried about four of them. Hands down, they were the best oysters I’ve ever had in Austin! I will definitely be going back with the Dude at some point.

Photo by Katie

Afterward, we hit up two of my favorite bars in Austin–Shangri La and Rio Rita, both on East Sixth. The East Side of Austin is quickly becoming one of the trendy places to hang out. I like it because it’s close to where I live, and these bars have a much chiller vibe than the rowdy, frat-like dives that line the other, more famous side of Sixth Street.

Here’s Amanda, me, and Abi at Shangri La. I don’t think Abi knew she was in this picture! You can also see my awesome wrist corsage that MOH Deniz and Amanda got me instead of a veil and sash, which I requested not to wear. I loved the corsage—I dragged it around all night, even though it was incredibly heavy!

Photo by Katie

And here we are at Rio Rita, enjoying White Russians (my fave!). There’s Abi, MOH Deniz, me, Kelli, and Amanda.

We called it a night kinda early and headed back to the hotel, where I had visions of cranking up some Santigold and continuing the party into the wee hours. However, everyone but Katie and me crashed pretty early. The two of us stayed up until around 4AM on the balcony, admiring the view of the city, and making fun of the people three rooms down who, after coming back from the clubs, had a spontaneous dance party to C&C Music Factory.

The party was exactly what I needed—it was totally chill and it got me excited for all of the events to come!

Did you visit your favorite haunts for your bachelorette party, or did you venture out and try some new places?