everything guide to A Better Bachelorette Party

part Five local, slightly o￿-the-beaten-path 1 Party This Way itineraries for every type of bride-to-be.

THE SCENESTER THE EARTH CHILD THE HOMEBODY

If singing, dancing, and causing a general Book a class at the Greenpoint studio of If you’d rather hang out in sweats than ruckus is the objective, start with dinner Fox Fodder Farm (67 West St., nr. Milton St.; paint the town red, make the party come to you. at buzzy Japanese spot Maison O (98 foxfodderfarm.com), where founder Taylor Kick things off with massages from NYC Healing Kenmare St., nr. Centre St.; 212-274-9898), Patterson can school up to 30 bachelorettes Hands (nychealinghands.com), whose therapists where groups can choose from three family- in the art of flower arranging ($150 per person) (from $140 per hour, per therapist; two-hour style izakaya menus (from $55 per person) or flower-crown construction ($75 per person). minimum) offer massage treatments in that include dishes like rib eye and black cod. Patterson also provides Champagne and snacks increments of fifteen minutes. Once you’re When you’re ready to get rowdy, descend ($15 per person). Don your crowns, hop the nice and relaxed, sit back while nail artists to Stardust Lounge, the restaurant’s karaoke East River Ferry ($4), and head to Brooklyn from Vanity Projects (vanityprojectsnyc.com) den, to take over either the Park room (from Bridge Park, where a staffer from Perfect Picnic take your nails to the next level (from $50 per $800 for four people from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.; NYC can hook you up with a late-afternoon person, including equipment). While you’re eight-person maximum) or the Classroom feast. The “European Picnic” ($16 per person, waiting for your hands to dry, a local chef from (from $1,050 for nine people from 10 p.m. plus $20 delivery fee; perfectpicnicnyc.com) at-home cooking service Kitchen Surfing to 2 a.m.; sixteen-person maximum). When includes tote bags full of local meats, cheeses, (kitchensurfing.com) can whip up a customized you’ve had your share of Whitney ballads, olives, jams, and breads. For an extra $150, feast right in your kitchen (from $20 per person), join the general dance party in Stardust’s they’ll take care of all setup (like picnic blankets) serve it, and handle all cleanup. Choose from main lounge area. and cleanup so you can focus on your frolicking. cuisines as varied as Cambodian and Ethiopian.

64 new york weddings | summer 2014 Illustrations by Joana Avillez

part Gone Spare your friends the haul to Vegas with 2 Girls these five unexpected alternatives. Everything Guide to a bachelorette party the standby the standby Wine tasting on the North Fork. Ohm-ing at a yoga retreat at Kripalu. the twist the twist DISTILLERY-HOPPING UNWINDING AT A RYOKAN-STYLE UPSTATE. INN IN THE BERKSHIRES.

Tuthilltown Spirits (14 (cotton kimono), which Gristmill Ln., Gardiner, N.Y.; some guests opt to wear 845-255-1527), where you for their entire stay. The can fortify yourselves on property’s 21 secluded grass-fed burgers ($15) at acres are yours to wander, the next-door restaurant, and when you’re ready THE SUN WORSHIPPER Tuthill House at the Mill to relax, the ryokan (20 Gristmill Ln.; 845-255- has a small indoor pool, Start the party bright and early with an 4151), before hitting the an infrared sauna, outdoor class from Goodyoga on the terrace The Hudson Valley actual distillery. During Innkeeper Louise and a sundeck. Local of the Wythe Hotel (80 Wythe Ave., nr. N. 9th is the source of a number a private tour ($15 a Palmer will see after your yoga instructors and St., Williamsburg; 347-574-4370; 9:30 a.m. of award-winning person for eight people), every need when you masseuses are on call, on Sundays; $17 per person) or with a private whiskeys, not to mention you’ll learn the process check into Berkshires and during the summer session on a pier in Greenpoint’s Transmitter farm-fresh cuisine that will of spirit-making as you Shirakaba ($700 for you can book a massage Park ($100 for four people; $25 for each help to offset your booze move through the two suites that sleep four, in the outdoor gazebo. additional person; goodyoga.com). Once you’re intake. From Manhattan, facility, ending up in the and $50 per person after Each morning, you’ll drive two hours to the feeling toned, hit the pool at Williamsburg’s tasting room to sample that; accommodates up be offered an elaborate idyllic Hillrock Estate Tuthilltown’s wares. to eight people; made-to-order Japanese King & Grove hotel (160 N. 12th St., nr. Berry Distillery (408 Pooles Crash at Mohonk berkshires-shirakaba. breakfast; or opt for a St.; 718-218-7500), where the four-hour Hill Rd., Ancram, N.Y.; Mountain House (from com), a tiny hilltop inn Western version. Most package includes access to poolside bleachers, 518-329-1023), where a $291 per person, including located in New Ashford, guests choose to eat booze, and family-style snacks ($1,125 for tour ($20 per person, by meals and activities; Massachusetts, and the six-course Japanese ten people; $115 for each additional person). reservation only) will take mohonk.com), an 1869 designed and run dinner here as well When you’re sufficiently bronzed, head to you through the whiskey- castle in the Shawangunk in the Japanese ryokan ($130 per person), the Upper Elm on the hotel’s rooftop to swill making process and then Mountains. In the summer, style. That means which lasts two to four cocktails and shimmy to live D.J.’s as the to the tasting room. From there’s a lobster bake you’ll leave your shoes hours. The inn doesn’t sun sets over Manhattan. there, drive 50 miles every Tuesday, Thursday, at the door and don serve alcohol, but you south to family-owned and Saturday night. a traditional yukata can BYO anything.

the standby the standby Getting wild in Vegas. A fancy time in Newport, Rhode Island. the twist the twist GETTING WILD ON A RANCH AN AFFORDABLE ROMP IN IN MONTANA. PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

cooking classes). includes four rooms Elaborate dinners, that sleep up to ten. Begin prepared by Pelligrini, your night with cocktails might include seared at the Magdalenae Room, quail over quinoa with the hotel’s bar, before savory huckleberries chowing down on German or pork-and-wild-boar fare at beer hall Faust. roulade with braised Come nighttime, hit the pork belly over apple- Boombox, the hotel’s Author-chef- kraut and smoked honey. In contrast to karaoke lounge ($7 per THE SPA ENTHUSIAST adventurer Georgia End your days with nearby Boston or touristy person per hour). The Pellegrini’s weekend- s’mores and Champagne Newport, Providence next morning, drive to If the bride simply wants to bliss out, long “Fearless Girls around a campfire, is a relatively inexpensive Narragansett Town Beach, hightail it to the new Elizabeth Arden Red Getaway” retreats and then retire to rustic culinary and cultural hub just 33 miles south, Door at Union Square (200 Park Ave. S., ($1,595 per person for log cabins that offer whose proximity to various stopping for sandwiches nr. 17th St.; 212-388-0222) to spend the day three days and two stunning mountain views beaches makes it an ideal at the Picnic Basket nights; georgiapellegrini spot for Northeastern getting rubbed, wrapped, primped, and and stone fireplaces. (20 Kingstown Rd., .com) take place on The price of the bachelorettes to convene. Narragansett, R.I.; 401- polished. Groups of up to twenty can opt for her sprawling Montana weekend includes all The Dean, a new 782-2284), or drive the either à la carte services or packages like the ranch in the remote food, lodging, activities, boutique hotel located same distance southeast five-hour Sitting Pretty ($356), which includes town of Belt, where gift bags, and transfers downtown, offers to pick up snacks at a 50-minute facial or massage, a detoxifying you can partake to and from the local affordable bunk rooms country store Provender seaweed wrap, a warm-cream manicure and in a mix of rugged airport; unlimited (from $79 for a bunk that Fine Foods (3883 pedicure, and a makeup application. Packages activities (horseback alcohol is an additional sleeps two; thedeanhotel Main Rd., Tiverton, R.I.; include a spa lunch of dishes like a grilled- riding, falconry, fly $75 per person. .com). Larger groups 401-624-8084) on your chicken-and-mozzarella sandwich with fishing, ATV driving, that want to take over the way to Little Compton’s roasted-garlic aïoli. Cap it all off with a round hiking) and gentler ones entire fifth floor can unspoiled South Shore of Champagne at nearby wine bar Pierre (sunset yoga, massages, do so from $500, which and Goosewing beaches.

Loti (53 Irving Pl., nr. 17th St.; 212-777-5684). OF THE MARLA COURTESY MERIDITH VENDORS (MONTANA); (REMAINING) MICHAEL GROSS (UPSTATE); PHOTOGRAPHS:

66 new york weddings | summer 2014 ANZIE

Designer Jewelry • Custom Design • Heirloom Restoration Conf lict-free diamonds & recycled precious metals 64 Trinity Place, Downtown NYC 212.964.7592 GreenwichJewelers.com

part Lose 4 the Penis Straws Everything Guide to a bachelorette party Joanne Barken, founder of party-planning service the Bach, offers classy upgrades to played-out paraphernalia.

instead of a Carrie Bradshaw– circa-2002 oversized martini glass … furnish the bride with an elegant flask for the evening (from $24 at izola.com; engraving available). part Twenty weddings later, When The Best a bachelorette-weary 3 guest has an epiphany. instead of Night Ever ... Isn’t. by jen doll a chintzy tiara … treat the bride to a classy yet festive Pinctada hough it took place over a de- the friends I’d loved for so many years be- headband ($32 at anthropologie.com). cade ago, I can still picture the bride fore any engagement was announced. I being carried aloft on a cheap plastic understood these parties were important T chair, blindfolded, as oiled-up men to my friends, though, and I wanted to sup- gyrated around her. I remember feeling port them and their relationships. So I very alone at the crowded male strip club. went. And went. Until that night at the I also remember the shoes I wore. They male strip club, when I’d had enough. instead of were red sandals with sensible heels, and Sorry, calling in sick. taste-questionable by their appearance should have been very A few months ago, though, another in- penis straws … sip comfortable. Instead, less than an hour into vite came. A good friend was getting mar- drinks from these playful striped the evening, they had begun to brutalize my ried in another country. I wasn’t sure I’d be alternatives feet, which, by the time I got home, would able to attend the wedding, so I went to the ($10 for 75 at be covered in tiny wounds. For a long time, bachelorette. We sat in my friend’s living weddingstar.com). I viewed bachelorette parties like I viewed room and ate and drank for hours, talking those shoes. They had the appearance of about the same things we’d always talked comfort, the promise of a good time. But all about. Yes, there was a moment in which too often, returning home from a bachelor- penis-shaped treats were served, but the ette party, I felt covered in tiny wounds of giggling that emerged was anything but the sort that take a surprisingly long time forced or rote. “These are deliciousness!” to heal afterward. someone shouted. It was deliciousness. instead of I’ve been to more than twenty weddings That’s when I realized that the beating heart decking the walls with campy streamers … in my lifetime, which means I’ve been to of a great bachelorette party is friendship: string up a custom nearly as many of those B-word events. the connective, protective web between piñata (from $50 at Even before the strip-club experience, I’d those present, the community of support llavesDesigns.com). never enjoyed the corny gag gifts, the penis that will continue even as individual life pasta, the games that seemed to imply the paths diverge. What had upset me wasn’t bride’s years of fun were about to be over the strip club. It was that in all the orchestra- instead of forever, or that she’d never lived at all be- tions for this grand event, we’d forgotten playing the tired old fore meeting this husband-to-be. While I what we were really there to celebrate. If the “Never Have I Ever” … knew these things were just not true, I also wedding is about the couple, the bachelor- get to know the bride’s feared what such illusions might portend ette is about the bride and her friends, and dark side during a rollicking round for our friendship: Would this friend, in the roles they’ve played in each other’s lives. of provocative word- marrying her husband, no longer be my It’s different than a typical night, yes, be- association game friend? Worse, at so many bachelorette cause one of you is about to get married, but Cards Against parties it seemed everyone was trying so it’s special because of what always has been. Humanity ($25 at cardsagainsthumanity hard—to have The Best Time Ever, to make Jen Doll’s memoir Save the Date: The Occasional .com). this Last Single Night count, to prove Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest is out in

Something—that they barely resembled May via Riverhead Books. OF COURTESTY THE VENDORS (REMAINING) MEGHAN KEYS (PIÑATAS); PHOTOGRAPHS:

68 new york weddings | summer 2014 Illustration by Joana Avillez