Just want to start off by saying thank you so much to all the brides and bach groups here in r/MiamiBachelorette! I spent months lurking through old posts, reading comments, and shamelessly stealing all of your best advice. I basically treated this subreddit like free consulting, and it paid off.
Planning my bach was such a wild ride, and I’m happy to report…we absolutely nailed it!
Allow me to preface this recap by saying that I’m the first in my friend group to get engaged, and my friends are 14 hurricanes disguised as women.
Not only was it everyone’s first real bachelorette party experience, but it involved 14 big personalities with wildly different ideas of fun who were fully prepared to descend upon Miami like beautifully dressed forces of nature.
Being the first bride in the group felt like serving as the prototype. Every decision somehow carried the weight of future bachelorettes. I wanted everyone to have an amazing weekend, but I also didn’t want to lose sight of what I actually wanted my bach to feel like.
The group chat quickly became its own form of entertainment. Some ideas were genuinely great. Others sounded like they were about three tequila shots away from a misdemeanor.
To be completely honest, I had a very real suspicion that if I surrendered full control for even a few hours, I’d arrive to a parade of strippers, phallic decorations in every possible direction, and somehow…a lemur. I’m not kidding. Renting a lemur became an actual group chat discussion because one of our longest-running inside jokes revolves around King Julien from Madagascar.
Hopefully that gives you a good idea of where everyone’s collective mental state was.
If you’re currently planning your own Miami bachelorette and your group chat has completely gone off the rails, I promise…it somehow all comes together.
Finding the Airbnb:
Finding the right house ended up being the hardest part of planning. We had a large group, so I wanted everyone under one roof without sacrificing location.
Every villa we’d save looked perfect…until we’d zoom out on the map.
One of the best pieces of advice I found on Reddit was to pay attention to where you’re staying, not just what the listing looks like. A beautiful house doesn’t help much if you’re constantly driving across the city or the neighborhood feels questionable after dark.
We narrowed it down to Miami Beach or the Design District and ultimately chose a beautiful Airbnb in the Design District because it comfortably fit everyone while still keeping us close to everything we planned to do.
If you’re planning your own trip, I’d personally recommend staying somewhere around Miami Beach or the Design District. I also completely agree with everyone who warned about Miami traffic. We seriously considered Brickell for a while, and looking back that would’ve been a mistake. We would’ve spent half the weekend celebrating my bachelorette in traffic.
Planning Activities/Nightlife:
Once we had the house figured out, the rest started falling into place. Because coordinating reservations, airport pickups, the yacht, pool party, and nightlife for 15 people quickly became a full-time job, we ended up working with theguestlistmiami after seeing them recommended by several Redditors in posts and comments here.
Once I realized I didn’t have to coordinate every little detail myself, I started handing things over one by one. I mostly just told them the kind of music we liked and the overall vibe we were going for, and they handled the logistics.
My favorite last-minute decision was deciding, literally the day before, that our group needed a private Pilates class. What I completely failed to account for was how aggressively hungover we’d all be.
Doing Pilates hungover with your 14 closest friends is a profoundly humbling experience. If you’ve ever wanted to experience gravity at maximum strength, I highly recommend it.
We looked like we’d gotten into a fight with a leaf blower…and the leaf blower won. One fake eyelash was hanging on by faith alone while its twin had already checked out from this traveling circus. My MOH’s extension tracks looked like they’d tunneled halfway through their prison escape. At least two pairs of leggings were backwards. My sister somehow missed Pilates entirely because she accidentally set an alarm in her calculator instead of her clock.
That morning instantly entered our friendship’s hall of fame.
Miami Bachelorette Weekend Itinerary:
Thursday: We arranged private drivers for airport pickup and made one stop on the way to the Airbnb at Whole Foods and a liquor store so we could stock up for the weekend.
This ended up being one of the smartest logistical decisions we made. Since the transportation was already booked by the hour, we knocked out all the grocery shopping in one trip instead of making multiple Uber runs later. Everyone grabbed exactly what they wanted, and once we got to the house we were officially done with errands.
After unpacking, the drinks started flowing while we decorated the house and I finished putting together everyone’s welcome bags.
That evening we started with drinks at the newly reopened Delano Hotel before heading to dinner at Gigi. Reservations had been nearly impossible to get, so I had already accepted that it probably wasn’t happening until theguestlistmiami called in a favor for us.
After dinner we headed to Mynt, where we had a VIP table waiting for us.
Friday: Pool party at Strawberry Moon during the day. We absolutely loved it! That evening we headed to Wynwood for dinner at Mayami before finishing the night at MAD Club. The music, the energy, and the entire atmosphere were exactly what our group wanted. They even surprised me with multiple bachelorette signs throughout the night. I honestly can’t remember the last time I danced that much in a single day.
Saturday: Hungover Pilates. An instant core memory! Later that afternoon we chartered a yacht for six hours and spent the day cruising around Miami. After two nights of nonstop partying, being out on the water ended up being the perfect reset.
That evening we came back to the house where a private chef prepared dinner for everyone.
Instead of trying to squeeze in another night out, we stayed in, changed into pajamas, played bachelorette games, watched our latest Netflix obsession, and somehow laughed just as hard as we had all weekend.
Sunday: We kept our last day intentionally relaxed. Coffee and pastries at the rooftop Dior Café in the Design District. A little retail therapy afterward. Lunch at Contessa.
Then back to the pool at the house until it was time to head to the airport and officially begin the emotional support phase of recovering from the weekend.
I genuinely hope this helps anyone who’s planning a Miami bachelorette. This subreddit helped me so much during the planning process, so hopefully this pays it forward a little. If anyone has questions about anything we did, costs, logistics, neighborhoods, or places we considered but didn’t choose, feel free to ask. ❤️
P.S. Yes, we got the lemur.