Save the Date Chibi by sakkysa on DeviantArt
This past February, yours truly, Anne Lee, got engaged! Woohoo! And you know what comes before marriage? A Sailor Moon themed bachelorette party!
The first question I had to answer was where to have the party. My hometown is in Michigan, but I haven’t lived there for the past six years–I had no idea what to do or where to go. I currently live in New York City where there are tons to do and–most importantly–public transit to ferry potential tipsy bridesmaids, so why not NYC? My bridal party lives all around the United States, and I didn’t want to burden them more than necessary, but they were all game!
Many young women have had their weddings planned since grade school, I hadn’t done that much planning, but the one part I’ve always had in back of my head was my bridesmaids. I have four close friends who I hold near and dear to my heart and luckily they agreed to be my bridesmaids! Sailor Moon fan extraordinaire ChubbyBunny sent her bridesmaids very cute Sailor Moon themed proposals, but I just asked over the phone. ^_^;;
Since the inner guardians are closest to Usagi, I decided to go with the inner guardians as their avatars instead of the outer guardians. That, and I think my friends’ personalities more closely resemble the inner guardians too! There’s S (Sailor Mercury) who is the smartest and calmest person I know, and J (Sailor Jupiter) who loves the color green and the outdoors. There’s K (Sailor Venus) who has beautiful blonde hair and is super genki–she’s also a huge Sailor Moon fan and cosplayer extraordinaire. Finally, there’s C (Sailor Mars) who is super classy and quite spiritual.
Mercury offered to coordinate the bachelorette party–she definitely made all my dreams come true! The party was done in two parts–in the morning, we went relax at Spa Castle and then in evening, we went into Manhattan for dinner and drinks. I was super excited about going to Spa Castle with my girls–I had been there before, but they hadn’t. And if you haven’t been there before, it’s quite the experience! Let me explain:
First, they have a huge rooftop pool–not to mention a full bar!
Then, they have several themed saunas on the second floor. They have a salt sauna, a sauna scented with green tea leaves, a cold sauna and much more!
But the thing I was most excited and nervous about was on the first floor–the traditional Korean baths. And what I say “traditional,” I mean, you gotta be completely naked to enjoy these baths! Of course, I wasn’t nervous for myself–I was a pro already–I had done this multiple times in Japan. However, for those attending, they had never done it before! Perhaps this wouldn’t be notable, however, for those who have grown up in the United States, public nudity just isn’t a thing. In fact, it’s extremely embarrassing for your average American.
I’m happy to report that everyone embraced my rally cry of “YOLO” and went into the Korean baths in their birthday suits! Truly, it was a bonding experience–we agreed that after that, we could do anything together! Venus remarked that it was helpful practice for looking people in the eye. One of my friends had a baby a year ago and she was feeling a bit nervous since this was the first time she had shown that much skin since the birth. Thankfully, she came away from the experience feeling positive about herself. I always tell others that these baths are awesome for your self-image–you realize that there is no “normal.” We spent the whole day relaxing in the pools and saunas; I even got a body scrub and massage which I highly recommend.
After the spa, we headed back to the hotel to change for the evening activities. There, my bridesmaids had a few surprises for me!
Mercury had this way cool “Future Mrs. Tuxedo Mask (Lee)” veil made for me from Bridal Bliss Couture. And Venus made these AMAZING Sailor Guardian sashes herself!
Check out the beads! Jupiter’s rose is my favorite. They even had little images of their elements on the ends.
Venus paid attention to the tiniest details so my sash had the cutest little pink bunnies on the ends! You can check more of Sailor Venus’s awesome creations at her deviantart page or reach out to her via her twitter account @tinykoiP.
As I slipped on my silver dress from Rent the Runway, I realized that my bridesmaids were dressing in their guardian colors! Don’t we look marvelous?
Once we were in Manhattan, we met up with more friends for drinks and food at Pegu Club. I absolutely loved the big, round comfy couches there! Our next activity was a bit of a mystery, and Mercury really enjoyed teasing me that there was going to be a male stripper. I was beginning to get really nervous before I realized that we were going to karaoke at my favorite place, Duet 35. Yhew! We actually didn’t sing any Sailor Moon songs, but Mars and I did a passionate rendition of Real Folk Blues. Jupiter had never heard us sing in Japanese before and she was duly impressed!
Gundam Seed in the background
But we weren’t quite done with the Sailor Moon theme just yet. I had prepared part 1 of their bridesmaid gifts–I had a lot of fun creating these blinged out bags. I even went out of my way to get the purple tissue for Mars’ bag because I’m anal like that. LOL.
Inside, I placed the corresponding pen/pointer. I really wanted my bridesmaids to feel pretty and empowered even after this awesome weekend!
As you can see, it was a great time all around–it was exactly the sort of bachelorette party I had envisioned and my amazing bridesmaids made it happen! I can’t thank them enough!
