Spotted: Gossip Girl Photo Shoot

Hello Upper East Siders. Gossip Girl here with the latest from Missa Victoria's bachelorette party weekend in prim and proper Washington, DC. Did the bride and her maids stay buttoned up during a weekend in our Nation's capital? Or did they let loose and bring Manhattan style and decadence to the 'Hollywood for the Ugly'? And who are those boys up above with our bride-to-be? That's a secret I'll never tell. XOXO, Gossip Girl.


...cue intro music...yes, I realize how lame this is...that's why this part is in italics...


I fully indulged my Gossip Girl fantasy during my bachelorette weekend earlier this month. I played the bossy Blair in advance, demanding that my ladies bring a fabulous and fun outfit with them for Saturday night to help me live out my heiress fantasy. While they were shopping, little did they know, I went on a shopping spree as well...for headbands for each of the girls and a photographer.

What could be more perfect than getting some of your closest friends together to play dress-up then get the Mario Testino treatment, a photo shoot inspiring confidence and sexiness? (As if we really needed any additional inspiration.)

I found photographer Julie Massie (Jewels) on Craigslist after reviewing over 50 responses to my job listing, and her photos turned out amazing! She worked like crazy for three hours with us to capture our individuality, fabulosity, friendship and unique beauty. Neither the homeless drug dealer, nor our touchy-feely friend from Kazakhstan broke her concentration, and some of her best shooting came from a vantage point sitting inside a Donovan House bathtub! She even embraced the Gossip Girl theme and wore a black outfit accessorized with a fabric flower brooch. So cute.

Jewels did great work and so did we! It was WORK. We exhausted ourselves, and it was so worth it. But enough talking, the images speak for themselves. See below for images that will forever remind me of how fabulous my friends and I were in our 20's.

First we took over the lobby lounge at the Donovan House Hotel:

The cast of characters from L-R: Carrie, Stephanie, Me, Melinda, Melissa

There was no music playing...


I'm being groped and chided for my stubbly legs ;)

We left the lounge for some place more comfortable; my suite. Wow, I had a suite. How Chuck Bass of me:

In my fantasy world, this would be our DVD cover art. We were making "Tyra eyes".

I wanted each of my friends to have their own model moment and they were ready for their close-ups. Get a load of us:


Carrie. Or Little J?

Melinda. Or Vanessa?

Melissa. Or Chuck?

Stephanie. Or Penelope?

Me. Or Blair?

I had some alone time with each lady and got some great shots!

It wouldn't be a fab photo shoot with a bunch of girls in a hotel without a pillow fight scene.



And the night wouldn't be complete without a shot on the steps of a church at midnight with a spray of confetti. Gotta end my life as a bachelorette with a bang!



Thanks for indulging my narcissism, ladies! Is it contagious?

XOXO,
Missa


(p.s. All photo credits go to the lovely Julie Massie, a DC/VA-based lifestyle photographer.)

Seven Deadly Sins Game: Bachelorette Party Fun

My Bachelorette Party weekend was so amazing that I can probably fill several posts with stories and now feel qualified to write a “how-to” guide on throwing a classy Bachelorette weekend because mine included so many clever games and activities and zero lameness!

I’ll start by explaining our overarching theme for the weekend: The Seven Deadly Sins

Ever since the movie Se7en, I’ve loved thinking and talking about The Seven Deadly Sins, and recall in high school that our big theory was that the sins are only deadly if you commit ALL of them, so we were fine because we weren’t guilty of extreme Wrath. After college, my friend (and now bridesmaid) Melissa and I would sit at happy hour and list our sins in order of which we commit the most to the least, exploring the deep recesses of our personality flaws and fabulosity.

In a conversation about possible “themes” for my bachelorette party weekend, while I was gagging thinking about how lame themes are, the idea of the Seven Deadly Sins came to me since there were 7 bridesmaids. We talked about having each Bridesmaid assigned to a sin, but that would stink for whoever got stuck with something derogatory like Gluttony or Wrath.

Eventually, I came up with the idea of a game where you earn points for committing “good” sins and lose points for committing “bad” sins. Each sin would have good and bad qualities. For example, a positive Envy point would be earned if someone “envied” you by giving an unsolicited compliment, but you would lose a point for Envy if you compared yourself to someone else or coveted something you didn’t have.

Melissa brainstormed with me on the list of good and bad sins and styled a fabulous scorecard for us complete with rhymes and witticisms:

Seven Deadly Sins Game & Scorecard: Bachelorette Party -

Using the example sins on the scorecard and my discretionary point rewarding and reprimanding as the bridezilla, it became such a fun way for us all to be friendly and nice to one another (lots of compliments were given, helping us feel fabulous) and gave me a reason to speak out against behavior that annoyed me (complaining, arguing, etc).

To top off the theme, my Maid of Honor, Carrie put together the cutest goodie bags filled with items that depicted the sins. Let's see if I remember these correctly...there's lots of overlap.

Gluttony: Lindt Truffles & Penis Lollipops

Envy: Green M&Ms

Wrath: Water guns

Greed: Fab coin purses

Sloth: A Kazoo (for calling out to someone for assistance)

Lust: Flavored condoms

Vanity: A pocket mirror

This game was a great way to add cohesion to the weekend and amp up some friendly competition. Feel free to steal the idea ;) Just give us credit, haha. And let me know how it goes!