Day 19 - What Women Want

For the last month, I have been in research mode, trying to wrap my arms around the bachelorette market.  I've gone to two bridal shows, watched a number of episodes of "Rich Bride/Poor Bride", read every bridal magazine I could get my hands on, and talked to dozens of people about "celebration services" for women.  Convinced that the bachelorette party was more than a Girls Gone Wild concept with male strippers and sex toy parties, I wanted to get to the heart of it.

And guess what I found out?  Girls just want to have fun, that's a given.  But we REALLY just want to TALK.  To each other.  Spend quality time together. Get to know each other better.  That's what the bachelorette party is about.  The bride's closest friends and family (and female family members and friends of the groom) gathers together, usually after the bridal shower, and a few weeks before the wedding, to get the party started.

In my experience, this is when the bridesmaids bond.  You have the bride's college roommates and her best friends from elementary school, and the groom's sister, and the women she works with.  All of her worlds collide in the weeks leading up to the wedding.  There is bonding to be done during the bridal shower planning, of course, but that tends to be driven by the mother or mom-in-law-to-be. And there is protocol to follow when the "family elders" are involved.

But, that bachelorette party.  That's when the wedding fun begins!  The girls meet each other again, laugh about stories of the shower, talk about how they will coordinate accessories with the bridesmaids dresses, all the while making connections with each other that will lay the groundwork for the fun wedding festivities ahead.

And, of course, The Bride-To-Be is honored, with her royal court roasting her in ways both gentle and sometimes not-so-gentle.  It's one of those nights where emotions run high, but for the most part, good times are had by all.

When it comes down to it, if you strip away (pardon the pun) the fake bridal veils, the male-anatomy cakes, the limo rides, the signature drinks, the night club festivities, it's all about getting the chance to talk to each other.  And, what opportunity do the ladies really have to do that?

The shower is about the gifts. The rehearsal dinner is about practicing and meeting everyone involved.  The wedding day is about the couple and the "pomp and circumstance". The traditional bachelorette party involved dinner and dancing.  There are few options.  Until now!

I am so freaking excited about the Fresh Getaway packages I'm putting together. I want to take my girlfriends on every one of them.  It doesn't matter that we all got married 10-15 years ago.  I'll plan the 40th birthdays, the divorce parties, the cancer-remission anniversaries and more.  Girls just want to have fun.  And time to talk.  And laugh. And eat. And play.  And FRESH is going to make it all happen, over and over again!