Court In The Port: Courtney’s Newport Bachelorette

I was so excited when Courtney officially asked me to be Maid of Honor back in February that I couldn’t wait to start planning her bachelorette! She didn’t want anyone to have to spend money flying so she narrowed down her options to cities she had never been that were driving distance from our location in NJ. She ended up choosing Newport, Rhode Island and it couldn’t have been a better decision!

Newport, RI is a very popular vacation spot in the Summer for all nearby states. Not only does it have several beaches, it also has great restaurants, wineries, breweries and so much more. We were so excited to begin planning until Covid happened. It was pretty hard trying to plan a bachelorette during Covid with 14 girls but Rhode Island was one of the few states without any travel bans so we really lucked out! Everything we planned was outdoors (to keep everyone safe and comfortable) and were so happy that we had amazing weather the whole weekend.

Want to know what we did? Keep reading!

Day 1

Since there were 14 of us and we were all coming from all over NJ, we didn’t have much planned for the first day. Most of us got there around 2-3pm and were able to check in immediately which was great! We had 4 rooms at The Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina and were so happy with it! Not only was it in downtown Newport, but it was located on the marina so we had amazing views of the water. The hotel has a big courtyard with adirondack chairs and fire pits so we hung out there anytime we had some downtime. Once we settled into the hotel, we grabbed some frozen drinks and bites @ The Black Pearl and then walked down Thames Street which has a ton of shops and restaurants. We stopped at O’Brien’s for espresso martinis and then met everyone back at the hotel. We hadn’t seen each other in months so we took the first night to hang out in the courtyard and catch up over pizza from Nikolas Pizza. We also ended up secretly decorating Courtney’s hotel room when she wasn’t there and it turned out so cute!

Day 2

Before starting our day, we knew we needed coffee! We grabbed some yummy donuts & coffee from Liberty Donuts (the donuts are tiny but that just means room for more than one ha). We booked a boat ride with Baywatch which was easily the highlight of the trip! Every boat we had looked into couldn’t accommodate 14 people so we would have had to book a public boat which wasn’t the route we wanted to go. We found Antique Yacht Club’s Baywatch boat and knew we found a winner! We chose the three hour adventure option which included floats for us to hang out on. The boat was BYOB so not only did we bring our own drinks but we brought our own food also! We swam, danced and sang our hearts out in our matching blue bathing suits – it was so much fun! Before going back to the room to change for the rest of the day, we had to make a stop at Kilwin’s for the most delicious ice cream!

Our goal that afternoon was to have a couple drinks at The Lawn at Castle Hill but because of Covid, they were only letting a certain number of people in (they don’t take reservations for the lawn). They have a ton of adirondack chairs but if you don’t have a chair, you can usually just hang on the lawn. Unfortunately, there were only a couple chairs left when we got there so we had to turn around and hang out on our own lawn at the hotel – which was perfectly fine! The view at Castle Hill is supposed to be the best in Newport so we will definitely have to go back and check it out! We walked to dinner at The Landing where we had to be split up into two tables but made the most of it! Between the sunset and the great seafood, it was a perfect end to the day!

Day 3

It was another early morning because we were off to the beach! Because of Covid, they were only letting non-Rhode Island residents into certain beaches. We read that if you don’t get there early, the parking lots fill up quickly and then you’re SOS. We didn’t want to risk not being able to go to the beach so we got in line for the lot at Easton Beach for 7:45am! Good thing we did because within an hour, the lot was full! We had a great relaxing day on the beach and filled up on lobster rolls from Easton Beach Shack for lunch. After we got enough sun, we went back to the hotel to change and headed to Newport Vineyards for a wine tasting. We had to book two tables again but luckily were right next to each other so we had our own little area. This was the second time I had been to the winery and even though we weren’t able to walk around the vines and play games like usual, we still had an awesome time. Before we left the winery, we ordered dinner from Diego’s for pick up and ate it back at our favorite spot – the courtyard at the hotel! We did some pregaming and changed for the night before making our way to Gurney’s. There weren’t any ubers around so we ended up walking 20 min but it was so beautiful out, we didn’t mind. We were able to snag a last minute reservation for drinks and were all in one area so we had a blast! Gurney’s is located on Star Island and is such a beautiful hotel. If you can go there for drinks or food, you won’t be disappointed! We ended the night by popping a few bottles of champagne – it was perfect!

Day 4

We made sure to go to the Cliff Walk before we left the city. It’s a 3.5 mile walk with unbelievable views of the ocean to one side and mansions to the other. It was of course the hottest day of the weekend so we didn’t walk too much before grabbing lunch at Panera, smoothies at Newport Fruit & Smoothie Co and cookies at The Cookie Jar before heading home. It was a sweet end to our trip!

xo A