It’s been a week since Kelsey and I became two of the luckiest girls on the planet. Most of you have already seen my photo with Carly and Evan, but you’ve probably been wondering one of two things: 1.) If you’re not a Bachelor fan, you’re probably wondering who the heck they are and why we took a picture with them or 2.) If you’re a Bachelor fan, you’re probably wondering how we managed to take a picture with them. Here’s a little backstory.

 

Kelsey and I are both avid watchers of the Bachelor, Bachelorette & Bachelor in Paradise. And we follow all of our fav contestants on Instagram. About the second week in December, we stumbled upon a post from one of the twins, I believe, that stated there was going to be a premiere party in LA for Nick’s season of the Bachelor. You could buy tickets and meet some of your favorite contestants. Kelsey and I looked into it briefly, but they were unfortunately too expensive and we decided it wasn’t worth it.

However, a few days later, Evan Bass posted on his Instagram that he was going to be holding a contest and giving away two tickets to the premiere party. All you had to do was comment something nice on his post about your favorite Bachelor/Bachelorette contestant. Kelsey DM-ed me on Instagram and we decided that we had to do it. What harm could be done? Never in a million years did I think that we would win. I have never been that lucky. A few days later, he deleted the post from his Instagram entirely and we were so disappointed.

Little did I know, Kelsey is super sneaky and thoughtful and DM-ed Evan on Instagram saying that she really wanted to win the tickets because her friend (ME!!!) is born on Christmas Eve and feels like she always gets overlooked (YEP!) and it would be the perfect birthday present for me! Her sneakiness and thoughtfulness paid off though because Evan messaged her back a week later and said “Ok you win! :).” Kelsey immediately wrote him back making sure it was real and it was!!!

The morning she found out I had 6 missed calls and like 4 messages from her and I thought she was dying. Turns out she just won the contest and we were going to LA to meet all our favorite Bachelor people in person!!!

For the next two weeks we were freaking out. We needed a new outfit, new shoes, new makeup, new everything if we were going to be on par with the Bachelor peeps! By the time the actual date rolled around, I couldn’t believe that it was really happening to us. We were still half expecting to show up and there not be a party or find out we weren’t going to be allowed in.

We drove down the morning of the premiere, had a quick lunch, stocked up on contouring products & rushed to my sister’s apartment at school where we were staying to get ready for the event. After spending way too long picking out and outfit and perfecting our contours (which we learned how to do from a video we watched in the car on the way down!) we were off to have the night of our lives.

The event was at Sycamore Tavern on Sunset Ave. We valeted our car and waited in the line outside for about thirty minutes before being let in to the event space. Kelsey and I shared a table with six other girls and we all eagerly awaited the arrival of our favorite Bachelor contestants.

One by one, they started to come in from a side door after taking pictures and talking to press outside. Once people realized where they were coming in from, they began crowding around the door to the point that poor Ben Higgins couldn’t even get inside. They just kept pounding on the door yelling “Ben! Ben! Ben!” Eventually he was let in and the real party began!

The previous contestants spread themselves out throughout the event space while people pushed and clamored for a chance to take a picture and chat for a second. IT WAS INSANITY. Neither Kelsey or I are socially aggressive people, so it was a struggle for a hot second to figure out what we needed to do. After a bit we decided that we just had to be a bit aggressive and get the pictures that we came for.

James Taylor was our first conquest and let me tell you, he is so cute in person! He’s very tall and broad-chested and that’s just how I like them! The only downside is that he was very, very drunk. We ran into him a second time that night and Kelsey told him how much we loved his swing dancing date with JoJo and he got weirdly emotional and said he didn’t expect to talk about that that night. So that’s how that went, LOL.

We sought out Carly and Evan next because we wanted to thank them for the tickets. When we found them and Kelsey told them who we were they got so genuinely excited! We snapped a picture with them and chatted briefly about how our drive down was and they both wished me a happy birthday! Such. Nice. People. And cutest couple, for sure!

We tried to get a picture with Chase, but he was so mobbed by girls. And they weren’t budging. But I can’t blame them because he is so attractive in person! He is also very tall and broad-chested. My one regret is that I didn’t fight harder to get a picture with him.

Kelsey was kind enough to let me wait in line twice to meet Becca Tilley. And holy cow she is gorgeous! Like honestly the prettiest person who has ever been on the show. Hands down. And she was so genuinely nice. She was hugging every single person in her line and was making it a point to be intentional about having conversations with them. We talked about Tone It Up and how we both need someone to hold us accountable. She told me to keep in touch so we could make sure we were both working out. I messaged her on Instagram and I will absolutely die if she ever messages me back.

We also got a couple pictures with Lauren Bushnell and Amanda Stanton. Both so beautiful, but they seemed a little like they didn’t want to be there. I’m sure it was just the fact that they were literally surrounded by a sea of people and being touched and pulled in different directions. They both slay though and are the cutest besties!

It took us a while because he had a huge crowd around him, but we eventually got a picture with Ben Higgins. My goodness is he cute in person! On TV he’s cute, but in comparison to a lot of the other guys, I think he comes out pretty average. But in person is a whole other story. His eyes literally sparkle and the long lashes are just an added bonus. His sweater was also really soft and had elbow patches. I told him I liked it and he said thanks, sticking out his elbows for me.

We also ran into Alex Woytkiw from JoJo’s season and that was a wonderful surprise. And if you thought he was short on television, let me tell you, he is somehow smaller in person. I’m 5’4″ and I was wearing 3-4 inch heels and his bio says that he’s 5’7″, but I felt like I was much taller than him. Just sayin. He was super sweet though! He was all about taking a picture with us and told us to stay safe that night! I told him the same because, c’mon, a tiny man in a room full of aggressive women?!??!? YIKES.

After walking around for 3 hours, we decided we were basically done, but we knew we had to wait it out because we hadn’t gotten a picture with our favorites: THE TWINS. We hung out near the VIP door that a lot of the contestants were coming in and out of to wait the twins out. They came down a few moments later and were immediately swarmed. I thought we were never going to get a picture, but we managed to snag them, snap a photo, tell them they were our favs and then move out of the way before we got trampled.

There were a few others that we saw, but never got to take a picture with because our feet were going to fall off if we didn’t take our heels off RIGHT THAT MINUTE. Ashley I. was rocking the boxer braids and pink glittery eye shadow. We really wanted a picture with her and to tell her that her makeup was ON FLEEK, but she kept moving around and we never go the chance to grab her. We also saw Wells, but the line was too freaking long and though he’s cute and goofy, he wasn’t worth loosing our feet over. I also saw Brooks Forester from Desiree Harstock’s (now Siegfried ❤ ❤ <3) season. I had to do a double take, but I wasn’t sure that was him. It was unexpected and so cool to see him!

After we left, we headed to In-N-Out, gorged ourselves on burgers and fries and cried because the contestants were doing the same thing at the In-N-Out across the street from the venue. If only we stayed a little longer and went to that In-N-Out instead!

Overall, it was a really fun and interesting experience. Kelsey and I both agreed we would never pay to do it, unless we had the money to be a VIP because we assume you get more time with them. Also, all the girls and most of the boys are TINY AF. Like the girls are all 5’2″ sizes 00-4 (and look slightly anorexic, not gonna lie) and the boys barely clear 5’7″ and are lean, lean, lean. I was just so shocked at how different their sizing looks on TV, but I digress.

Here’s a picture gallery of the photos we snapped from the night so you can vicariously live through us! 🙂

Seriously, I will never forget this night! And if you are somehow reading this Evan, thanks a million! ❤

xoxo,

alyssa