My oldest BFF Nicole is getting married in August, and she chose Nashville as her bachelorette destination. I was there in October for a nutrition convention and adored the city (the warmth, the Southern hospitality, the slower pace of life, the cheaper Ubers and drinks, the live music in nearly every bar). Thanks to my hands-on experience, much-needed suggestions from others who had been to bachelorette parties there, tips from locals, my friend Google, and an all-star conglomeration of ladies, the 14-girl weekend went off without a hitch. I'll recap the trip from start to finish, and you may find this useful as a resource if you're planning a trip there!
Here's a quick list of where we went (just in case you don't want to read the whole lengthy post!):
Hotel: DoubleTree Nashville Downtown
Activities: Music City Pub Crawl
Bars: ACME Feed & Seed, The Stage on Broadway, Tootsie's, The Red Door Saloon (in Midtown), The George at The George Jones Museum, The Wild Beaver Saloon
Restaurants: Cabana (in Hillsboro Village), Choices at The George Jones Museum, Saint Anejo (in the Gulch)
Friday
A few of the girls kicked off the weekend early on Thursday, but most of us flew out on Friday. Nicole and I and a few other eager ladies took an early-morning flight. Even with security lines being horrifically long right now, I got through security at Midway Airport in 25 minutes (I was randomly put in the TSA Pre-Check line!). The flight was great, except for when I realized at the baggage claim that my Kindle was still in the seat-back pocket on the plane. Luckily, they found it and kept it safe until I picked it up on the way back home. That was my first time leaving something expensive on a plane, and I hope I never do it again!
Once the Kindle Incident was settled, we split off into separate Ubers (I went with my other BFF Jess who took a 1 AM flight from Los Angeles!) to our hotel. I booked the DoubleTree Nashville Downtown, and it turned out to be a great place to stay. It's centrally-located for tourists (near all of the fun bars on Broadway), and I had a very positive experience with the customer service. I originally booked five rooms (we thought there would be 20 of us at one point), and they had no problem with me cancelling rooms. Three girls stayed in their own Airbnb, so we ended up doing two rooms of four and one room of three. The rooms were spacious enough for all of us and had super comfortable beds. The lobby was also really nice and had a Starbucks in the lobby, which was handy. Since it was a DoubleTree, we also had access to free cookies! COOKIES!!
Our room wasn't ready until about 2:30, so we had a frenzied girl-changing party in the lobby bathroom, put our suitcases in storage, and then walked to ACME Feed and Seed for lunch. This restaurant/bar is located across the street from the river on Broadway and has a lovely rooftop. The staff was also delightful; they allowed our group to move two sets of tables and chairs from the covered, shaded area into the sunny part overlooking the water. We were lucky to get there early, because the restaurant and rooftop filled up quickly. The first thing on the agenda was drinks. Cheers!
Here's a quick list of where we went (just in case you don't want to read the whole lengthy post!):
Hotel: DoubleTree Nashville Downtown
Activities: Music City Pub Crawl
Bars: ACME Feed & Seed, The Stage on Broadway, Tootsie's, The Red Door Saloon (in Midtown), The George at The George Jones Museum, The Wild Beaver Saloon
Restaurants: Cabana (in Hillsboro Village), Choices at The George Jones Museum, Saint Anejo (in the Gulch)
Friday
A few of the girls kicked off the weekend early on Thursday, but most of us flew out on Friday. Nicole and I and a few other eager ladies took an early-morning flight. Even with security lines being horrifically long right now, I got through security at Midway Airport in 25 minutes (I was randomly put in the TSA Pre-Check line!). The flight was great, except for when I realized at the baggage claim that my Kindle was still in the seat-back pocket on the plane. Luckily, they found it and kept it safe until I picked it up on the way back home. That was my first time leaving something expensive on a plane, and I hope I never do it again!
Once the Kindle Incident was settled, we split off into separate Ubers (I went with my other BFF Jess who took a 1 AM flight from Los Angeles!) to our hotel. I booked the DoubleTree Nashville Downtown, and it turned out to be a great place to stay. It's centrally-located for tourists (near all of the fun bars on Broadway), and I had a very positive experience with the customer service. I originally booked five rooms (we thought there would be 20 of us at one point), and they had no problem with me cancelling rooms. Three girls stayed in their own Airbnb, so we ended up doing two rooms of four and one room of three. The rooms were spacious enough for all of us and had super comfortable beds. The lobby was also really nice and had a Starbucks in the lobby, which was handy. Since it was a DoubleTree, we also had access to free cookies! COOKIES!!
Our room wasn't ready until about 2:30, so we had a frenzied girl-changing party in the lobby bathroom, put our suitcases in storage, and then walked to ACME Feed and Seed for lunch. This restaurant/bar is located across the street from the river on Broadway and has a lovely rooftop. The staff was also delightful; they allowed our group to move two sets of tables and chairs from the covered, shaded area into the sunny part overlooking the water. We were lucky to get there early, because the restaurant and rooftop filled up quickly. The first thing on the agenda was drinks. Cheers!
We had lunch there and had a fun afternoon with cocktails in the sun. We all forgot sunscreen, so I bought some at the gift shop on the first level.
Below: The ladies and the Cumberland River
Below: The ladies and the Cumberland River
After the hotel called to alert me that our rooms were ready, a few people split off to settle in/take naps. The rest of us walked up Broadway in search of live music. We settled on The Stage on Broadway, which had an awesome country band and a dance floor. It felt like we were at a mini country concert.
We went to the Tootsie's rooftop after that to meet up with more friends, which was already so crowded that it was hard to move. I decided to go walk back to the hotel, check into our room, and start unpacking. I went to Costco a week before to get snacks for the hotel rooms. I ended up bringing an entire carry-on full of Skinny Pop. Oh my gosh.
Jess, awake from her nap, and Nicole's sister Sasha helped me put the guest bags together (including Skinny Pop, Annie's fruit snacks, trail mix, mini Altoid mints, and Nicole tattoos[which I will get to later]). We then got ready for dinner while Nicole napped, and then most people went off to dinner while I labored to wake up Nicole and get her ready for the first Nashville night.
We went to Cabana, which is a haven for bachelorettes visiting Nashville. Although it was a cab ride away (about 10 minutes, closer to the Vanderbilt campus), it was ideal for us. Cabana has intimate seating areas that are perfect for large parties. We had our own TV, music, and attentive server. For extra money, they decorated our cabana with balloons, streamers, fun "scratch-a- dare" bachelorette games, beaded necklaces, and a tiara and sash for Nicole.
We went to Cabana, which is a haven for bachelorettes visiting Nashville. Although it was a cab ride away (about 10 minutes, closer to the Vanderbilt campus), it was ideal for us. Cabana has intimate seating areas that are perfect for large parties. We had our own TV, music, and attentive server. For extra money, they decorated our cabana with balloons, streamers, fun "scratch-a- dare" bachelorette games, beaded necklaces, and a tiara and sash for Nicole.
Doesn't she look pretty?
One of Nicole's bridesmaids who couldn't make it to Nashville generously ordered and paid for a few bottles of champagne for the table, so we were pretty much set for drinks for the night!
The food was also great, and our server had no problem with doing separate checks for our group. Talk about good service!
We went to The Red Door Saloon for drinks after dinner (it's really cute- it looks like a big house), but I hit a massive wall during dinner and I called it a night soon after we got there.
Saturday
We didn't have plans until after 1 the next day, so we slept in until around 8:30/9. Nicole and I decided to go for a three-mile run around the Nashville streets. It kicked my ass. Nicole motivated me to run faster, and there were a whole bunch of hills that were tough.
Saturday
We didn't have plans until after 1 the next day, so we slept in until around 8:30/9. Nicole and I decided to go for a three-mile run around the Nashville streets. It kicked my ass. Nicole motivated me to run faster, and there were a whole bunch of hills that were tough.
I showed off my Team PAWS pride.
After the run, we prettied up in our hotel room and got ready for the next event: the Music City Pub Crawl.
For $15 per lady, we got ourselves a private tour that included five different bars with drink specials, a fun tour guide, and trivia. Nicole also got her own personalized cowgirl hat. Fun, yes?
We went to the following bars: Buffalo's (where we ate a quick lunch), Benchmark, Doc Holliday's Saloon, the rooftop bar of the George Jones Museum, and the Wild Beaver Saloon (with karaoke!). The bar crawl was well worth it for the drink specials and our fun tour guide.
Below, you can sort of see the Nicole tattoos. My sister-in-law had these at her bachelorette party and I had to copy the idea!
Below, you can sort of see the Nicole tattoos. My sister-in-law had these at her bachelorette party and I had to copy the idea!
After our pub crawl, we all gathered in our hotel room to play bachelorette games. We then headed back to the George Jones Museum for dinner at Choices. We had views of the river, decent bar food,and we once again got separate checks. Most of us called it a night after dinner, because we were exhausted!
Sunday
The next morning, we packed up our things, checked out of our rooms, and took Ubers to Saint Anejo in the Gulch, a neighborhood just south of where we were staying. Although Jess had to take an early-morning flight back to Chicago for her brother's college graduation, she booked us a semi-private room in this restaurant. Our brunch menu included 2-for-1 libations and lots of Mexican-themed brunch fare. I got a blood-orange mimosa (or two) and a breakfast burrito.
Sunday
The next morning, we packed up our things, checked out of our rooms, and took Ubers to Saint Anejo in the Gulch, a neighborhood just south of where we were staying. Although Jess had to take an early-morning flight back to Chicago for her brother's college graduation, she booked us a semi-private room in this restaurant. Our brunch menu included 2-for-1 libations and lots of Mexican-themed brunch fare. I got a blood-orange mimosa (or two) and a breakfast burrito.
Most of us took evening flights out of Nashville, so we soaked up the hours by sitting in the sunshine and enjoying each others' company.
All in all, it was a perfect weekend that was fun without hangovers and allowed me to take joy in the simplest things like getting ready with my best friends and dancing around to country music. I wish we could do it all over again! Oh, and I got to go through the TSA Pre-Check line on the way home. What a win!
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