Amelia’s bachelorette party was last weekend in New Orleans. It was a small group for most of the weekend, just the bridal party - Nicole, Kara, and me. Kara hosted everyone at her huge apartment. It was basically a giant slumber party. It was awesome.
I flew in Friday evening and Amelia and Nicole picked me up at the airport. I’d never met Nicole but felt like I knew her really well from all of Amelia’s stories. I tried to keep my mouth shut so I didn’t reveal what a creeper I am, but I don’t know that I succeeded. Anyway, I want Nicole to be my new best friend.
We had dinner at Sake Cafe and drank girly martinis. Afterwards we watched Bridesmaids and talked about the Helens we’ve known.
Saturday morning started with mimosas and a crab and brie omelet at Dante’s Kitchen. I could eat that omelet every day for the rest of my life and never get sick of it (minimal hyperbole). Then we got manicures, minus Nicole. Amelia chose jade green, Kara dove gray, and I picked a deep purple that looked practically black once it was on. Not quite what I was going for.
Nicole took Amelia shopping and Kara and I headed to Party City for pregame supplies. Their bachelorette section is between the 50th anniversary and baby shower sections, which I found hilarious. Party City doesn’t stock anything too lewd, but we did get Amelia a tiara, sash, and a “hottie whistle” to blow when she saw hot guys. All pretty tasteless, but New Orleans is not a subtle town. Amelia ended up using the whistle to hail cabs, by the way.
Kara picked up salads and pizzas and we ate dinner in while getting ready. For old times’ sake, we played one last game of Never Have I Ever, since everyone agreed that it’s tacky to play it when you’re married.
For our big night out, we promised Amelia that we would go anywhere and do anything. She wanted to go to Bourbon Street, so that’s what we did. It was jam packed with University of Louisiana - Lafayette and UCSD fans in town for a bowl game. One guy saw us and cheered, so we cheered, and then he chanted, “GO U L!” I said, “No, not U L, she’s getting married,” and pointed to Amelia, and he changed his chant to, “Go! Get! Married!” and high fived us. We didn’t stay in one place too long. We walked up and down holding hurricanes and making Amelia take photos with anyone wearing a costume until Amelia decided it was bedtime.
The next morning we had a very late brunch (1pm late) at Commander’s Palace with Amelia’s mom and a couple of family friends. Mimosas again, plus a harvest salad, pecan crusted gulf fish, and pecan pie. Commander’s Palace is of a different era, with its prix fixe brunch and birds on the wall and jazz trio strolling around. It felt like an appropriate way to end a New Orleans weekend.
