bachelorette party bowling

Saturday was the big day. And of course I was not ready. I came home with plenty of time to get ready, but then time slipped away and my dress was not quite ready bc i felt it needed more tacky flowers and my tacky flower hair peice was not quite finished either. With the help of my fabulous mother, I got it all pulled together, looked FAB, and headed to Louisa to pick up Shannon and Jeanette.

The looks we got standing in the McDonald's parking lot were priceless. Shannon had given me her purple dress the night before to rip some seams out of - a task that took my mom less than fifteen minutes. In the meantime, Amy at Cinderella's Closet had provided her with the perfect homemade seventies flower print gown. WE recieved a few more stares, Steve snapped a few photos (as in 100) of the three of us, and we got on our way.

We were the first to arrive at Guadalajara, but this made it easy for others arriving to identify that yes they were in the right place, and those crazily dressed ladies must be where I am supposed to be. Because this was a bachelorette party for two brides, Ellen and Chrissy (who incidentally are cousins), some people knew both, but others only knew one of them.

Dresses varied across the board. Seemed most people had been bridesmaids before, or just knew people who had these old dresses on hand, and had some dresses to choose from. Ginny had a lovely red dress on, but opted for my black lace dress to be a bit more tacky. Shannon and I were definitely the tackiest dressed, but others were in definite that-looks-just-like-a-bridesmaid's-dress dress. We were a sight. One downfall of these dresses is that they all seemed to be tight across the ribs, but not necessarily anywhere else.

Good times were had by all. We got plenty of stares and we caught more than a few people asking the waitstaff what exactly we were doing. Duh. It should have been obvious seeing as I provided the brides-to-be with tiara-veils, sashes, and obligatory shot glass necklaces. (I have yet to be a bridesmaid or maid of honor - but I have had a lot of bachelorette party planning experience.) I also provided everyone with their very own diamond engagement ring - though there were few in attendance who did not already have a real one.

Many margaritas and mexican food dishes later, we were still at Guadalajara giggling and having a good time. People were catching up and sharing stories about anything and everything. I learned that Ellen and Jami are both very loyal blog-readers (always nice to hear). The local firefighters came in for a meal and got roped into taking photos with the Ellen and Chrissy. Then we moved on to Keglers bc bowling shoes are the perfect accessory to a formal gown.

The girl at the deck thought we were hilarious and loved the idea. Of course she would have been even more thrilled if Ellen and Chrissy had been marrying each other, but that's the confusion with having a double-bachelorette party. Bowling is and always will be hilarious. We got plenty of strange looks and a few catcalls, but that couldn't distract us from our goal of being silly and having a great time. However, some dresses were a bit difficult to bowl in.

Jamie's flowing dress kept getting in the way so she was hiking it up and holding it with one hand and bowling with the other. After catching site of her undies, we tried other options and eventurally settled on tying the flowy bit into a knot. Shannon's seventies dress ripped at the zipper and then ripped a huge hole in the armpit of her bowling hand. Luckily she could change into her purple velvet dress that was much more roomy and comfortable. I had to make sure my straps were up and not falling down so i could move my arm at all. I know Ellen couldn't touch the top of her head in her dress, but don't know if that inhibited her bowling movement. Mikey was set with his tux and ruffly shirt - guys are so lucky.

Someone Ellen knew showed up for bowling and felt out of place without a dress - luckily I still had the Christmas dress in reserve. She happily put it on over her clothes and joined right in. She also purchased shots to put in Chrissy and Ellen's shot glasses. Hilarious.

We took tons of photos - mostly of Chrissy bc you had to take a photo three or four times to try to get Chrissy with her eyes open. After a while, it was easier just to give up and laugh about it. Maybe I will run stats on my photos to see the ratio of eyes open to eyes closed.

A guy randomly approached Ellen and started dancing and grinding with her - at least that is what I saw. He may have been coerced bc his buddy took a photo of the event and I heard rumor their may be some photos taken by our group as well.

One of the most amazing things that happened, happened in the lane right next to us. A guy proposed to his girlfriend at the bowling alley. Laura saw that it was going to happen bc she saw the guy with his ring box (bc he dropped it accidentally) and warned us all that it was coming. Chrissy gave her veil to the girl who wore it for the rest of the evening and all the girls admired her new engagement ring.

The scores were low (as usual), one of the brides bowled a 69, and I had the high score with a 101. But good times were had by all and there may have been some post partying that I don't know about after the Louisa crew departed. Congrats to Chrissy and Ellen!