How Do I Plan a Bachelorette When My Friends Live Everywhere?

Q: I have a bicoastal wedding party, and I’m not sure how to handle planning a bachelorette. Half my bridesmaids live on the West Coast and the other half live on the East Coast (myself included). The wedding is going to be in Vermont, which is technically a destination wedding for everyone involved.

As a bride on a budget, I know I am already asking a lot of my friends to take time off work, fly all the way across the country, and find their way to my semi-rural wedding location, so I feel guilty asking them to spend any money on a bachelorette party. However, I rarely get to see all these amazing ladies together at one time and would really love to celebrate with a fun, low-key, outdoor-ish, boozy, bicoastal bachelorette party.

How do I handle this? Do I choose somewhere in the middle of the country? Should I say fuck it and do whatever I want? Do I travel west since the maids on the East Coast are all family? Help please?

ANSWER FROM THE EDITOR:

We’ve discussed the options of having alternative bachelorette parties at APW before. Who’s to say that you can’t have a low-key, budget-friendly get together before your big day? Do what you want, and if some people in your wedding party can’t make it don’t take it personally. They simply may not have the time or the funds to accompany you at your outdoor-ish, boozy bachelorette party.

Is it asking too much to make your entire bi-coastal wedding party travel to your bachelorette party? How do you accommodate everyone while sticking to your budget? Do you go ahead and just do what you want?

If you want the APW community’s two cents, send it to QUESTIONS AT APRACTICALWEDDING DOT COM, and we’ll do our best to crowdsource you some answers!