My Napa Bachelorette Party

November 10, 2017

So excited to finally be sharing all of the photos from my Napa bachelorette party! I was waiting for my Progressive article to be published before I shared all of the details. As you may have seen the goal was to throw a very Instagrammable party. I know that sounds dumb but it basically just meant there were a lot of fun and cute details. My sister helped a ton with the planning but I did a lot of it too because I'm a tad controlling😇. So scroll on down to see more!



Where we stayed: one of Mark's good friend's parents own a stunning home in Napa and graciously let us use it for the weekend. It's like Nancy-Meyers-movie-beautiful. We chose to go over Labor Day weekend to take advantage of everyone having the extra day off. Napa is typically hotter than where I live in San Jose but oh my god you guys, the weekend we were there it was 112 degrees which is abnormally hot. Thankfully, the house we stayed at had a pool and man was it a godsend. It's funny though because most of my friends that came were from other parts of the country where it's humid so they were saying it didn't feel that bad because it's a dry heat😂. Thankfully, the weather didn't ruin the weekend but we just spent a little more time inside than we had originally planned.
Day one: everyone arrived and we had cute little welcome bags for the girls. 
I wanted to do the welcome bags because everyone had traveled to come celebrate with me and that meant a lot so I just wanted to show a little appreciation. We had some adorable tote bags and filled them with cute floral wine stoppers, sparkling rosé, wine pun glasses, cute makeup bags filled with candy and we had some itineraries printed. All products are linked at the bottom of the post! 
The first day was pretty chill, everyone arrived to the house and we just got settled in. We decorated with some signs and banners, went on a grocery run, got all acquainted, etc. That night we grabbed pizza and brought it back to the house. I knew all along that I didn't want a wild bachelorette party. Obviously Napa doesn't scream party scene so it was perfect for me :) I just wanted to relax with my girlfriends. 
Day two: tasting day. We started at Stags' Leap Winery which is absolutely stunning. It's set up in the hills with pretty views. The tour and tasting started at 10AM so it was only in the 90's at that point and we could be outside without wanting to die lol #melodramatic. It was so fun to start with a more in-depth tour. I'll be honest, I thought it would be more about winemaking but it was mostly about the history of the house which was equally interesting. It looks like a castle but used to be many various things like a family home, resort and a speakeasy. We even got to have a class of cabernet in the old speakeasy. Everyone really enjoyed the tour here and it was a fun first place to start off. The wine was excellent too. From what I understand they had some fire damage but not too much and they've reopened. 
After Stags' Leap we headed over to Domaine Chandon and it was a nightmare. I knew it would be popular because it's a recognizable brand but the heat coupled with the holiday weekend equaled insane crowds inside the tasting room. They have a really nice, large patio that no one was using because of how hot it was so everyone was crammed inside. I think it would be better otherwise if people could spread out. We pretty much walked in and were like "nope" and left. We thought it would be fun to go there because they do sparkling wines which is a little different but oh well. So we headed back to the house to regroup. We ultimately decided we wanted to do another more relaxed and smaller tasting like we'd done at Stags' Leap so that usually requires going somewhere that you make reservations. We decided we'd make a reservation for the next day at a nearby winery. 
We spent the rest of day two drinking sangria and lounging in the pool!
Pool floats were aplenty #natch. That night we made dinner at the house in their stunning kitchen. They have gorgeous outdoor seating areas but we kicked it up a notch and added some lights and a wisteria "chandelier" to set the mood. The built-in outdoor speakers playing Frank Sinatra helped too :) 
Day three: originally was just going to be a pool day but after the Domaine Chandon debacle we had booked a tasting at the Merryvale tasting room. It wasn't necessarily anything special but we enjoyed being in the AC and we had a table to ourselves. We spent a good few hours relaxing and enjoying the wine there.
After Merryvale we headed back to the pool to cool off and enjoy some tropical drinks for the rest of the day. 
A note about this sign: I couldn't decide what I wanted it to say. "Bachelorette" seemed kind of funny but I didn't want any of the cheesy bachelorette ones either so I decided to just keep it simple and literal😂
That night we went out to Bottega in Yountville for dinner. It was fun to get dressed up and go eat fancy pasta with the girls :) see my outfit here!
On our last night we went back to the house and sat outside and did our own blind wine taste test. It was so much fun! We bought cheap, mid-range and expensive pinot noirs and chardonnays and then only one person knew which was which and we had to try and decide what was the most expensive and such. I'd highly recommend this as a fun party idea! 
Day 4: our last day. Day 4 was mostly just cleaning up and everyone heading to the airport. 
One last fun thing: the house we stayed in is down the street from the Parent Trap house. AKA the winery where the Napa parts of the Parent Trap were filmed. I was ecstatic when I found that out but they're actually not open on the weekends. I also read on Google reviews you can't say that you're there because of the Parent Trap because they'll get upset which is kind of ridiculous. If I want to give you my money why do you care why I'm there? Anyway, we weren't able to officially go because we were there over a weekend but we did sneak over and take some photos of the house from the road😈

Now I want to go back after writing all of this! Despite all of the fire devastation they need people to keep going and support businesses so maybe I can convince Mark we should go for a weekend.

Hope you enjoyed the photo overload! Products are linked below and I still have a lot of them so if you need someone to plan your bachelorette party, I'm your girl ;)
xo Catherine

p.s. if you're planning a bachelorette party here are some of the fun things I bought!
Itineraries (I used what is technically a wedding program and just changed the text)
Pool floats: pizza, cactus, pineapple, ring, emojis (do yourself a favor and buy an electric pump for these!)

4 comments

  1. that house you stayed in is like a dream! that outdoor space and pool. wow! we went to napa a few years ago, and i was shocked by just how many wineries/vineyards and how crowded it can be! my favorite was hagofen, where i had a riesling flight. yum!

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  2. Where is that pool float from??? Gorgeous!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! They're all linked at the bottom of the post :)

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