It’s Hump Day! How has everyone’s week been? My wedding is coming up this Saturday and I just can’t believe how quickly time has gone by! The past couple weeks have been crazy busy with getting the final details for my wedding in order and making sure my couples have everything they need while I’m gone. My blog post about my Bachelorette Party to the Tampa Bay area is long overdue so I wanted to get this posted before I leave tomorrow!
Let me just start with – I had the BEST time celebrating with my friends in Florida! We flew into Tampa (which has non-stop flights from Hartford!) and then took an Uber from the airport to our AirBnB. I originally had our house booked in downtown St. Petersburg but it was cancelled a couple weeks before we were supposed to check in so I frantically scrambled to find a comparable option. We ended up staying in Largo which wasn’t our ideal location but it ended up working out great! I chose this area as I really wanted to go somewhere warm with beaches, things to do during the day but also had great restaurants and fun nightlife. I’m not a huge partier so the idea of going to Miami and staying out in clubs all night just sounded really exhausting to me. The Gulf Coast sounded much more my style.
I flew down with a group of my friends and the trip started out with a complimentary upgrade on Delta which included free drinks (thanks Delta!). Naturally, morning mimosas were in order. To set the tone for the trip, my MOH and I streamed Bridesmaids on the plane and were laughing the entire flight. One of my bridesmaids lives in Tampa so she picked us up from the airport and we headed over to check in to the house. Our house was about 30 minutes from the airport, 25 minutes from Clearwater Beach and 30 minutes from downtown St. Petersburg. There were also several beaches within 10 minutes of the house which was great.
Friday afternoon we decided to check out Indian Rocks Beach as this was the closest option (about 5 minutes from the house). This was definitely more of a low-key “locals” beach which was fine with us as we wanted to just soak up a few rays and relax. Our plan for Friday night was to head to Clearwater Beach. In your typical planner fashion, I made all our dinner reservations weeks in advance to ensure we didn’t have to wait. OMG you guys, Clearwater Beach is gorgeous. I’m talking sugary, white sand beaches, tropical palm trees, crystal clear water and stunning sunsets. We went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, Marina Cantina. The food was delicious and margaritas were flowing. They have a gorgeous deck with firepits overlooking the harbor. After dinner, we walked around to find the best bars. We stopped in to Jimmy’s On the Edge, a hotel rooftop bar. The bar was beautiful but it was so windy that we didn’t spend too much time here before moving on. We ended up at Shephard’s Beach Resort which had two totally different bar scenes – one outdoor beach bar with live music and one indoor nightclub. We bounced back and forth between the two and had a blast!
Saturday morning began with breakfast at the house before heading over to Madeira Beach. The weather was perfect, low 80’s and pure sunshine. We spent a couple hours relaxing on the sand before grabbing lunch on John’s Pass Boardwalk. The boardwalk is across the street from the beach and features various tiki bars, gift shops and ice cream shops.
After lunch we went back to the house to get ready for Saturday night. I really wanted to go out on a boat so I booked us a sunset cruise with Simple Sailing out of St. Petersburg. We brought some snacks and drinks on board and cruised around the harbor for about 2 hours enjoying Happy Hour. I made us dinner reservations at BellaBrava, an Italian restaurant right across from the water. After dinner, we started our night at The Canopy, another hotel rooftop bar. I really wanted to dance so we just grabbed one drink here as it’s more of a lounge bar. We were directed to livelier bars between 1st and 3rd Avenue. This strip is literally just one bar after another so there was no shortage of places to go. We stopped in for a quick drink at a country bar, One Night Stand where I rode the mechanical bull (and nailed it might I add!) After that we popped in and out of several dance bars before heading home.
A couple of my friends were heading home Sunday but my MOH and I decided to spend one extra day together in Tampa. We checked out of the house and into our hotel in downtown Tampa. We enjoyed lunch at U-le-le and walked the Tampa Riverwalk. Sunday night we met up with a couple of my friends from college who moved down to Tampa and we went out in the Ybor Historic District. For dinner, we dined on authentic, Spanish food at Columbia Restaurant. Afterwards, we went out for drinks on the main strip and stopped in to the original Coyote Ugly bar and sang karaoke at Double Decker.
It was time to head home on Monday and back to real life. I had such a fun and memorable Bachelorette Party and I highly recommend this area for anyone looking to have a fun but also laid-back trip with their girlfriends. I will treasure the memories made and time spent with my friends forever and I can’t thank them enough for all being there to celebrate this special time in my life!
I love to hear your feedback! Tell me about where you went for your Bachelorette Party and what you did! If you’re in the process of planning one, definitely put Tampa Bay on your list of possibilities and I hope this blog gave you some ideas! I’ll be taking the next week off from writing as I leave tomorrow for my wedding and honeymoon in the Bahamas! I’ll share everything with you guys on the blog when I return!
As always, Happy Planning!
Love,
Alyssa