Bachelorette party in Nashville

Happy new year!!! The holidays got the best of me and I didn't get to blog as much as I wanted to.... at all really. I have so much to share with you, I don't even know where to begin! I thought I would start with the bachelorette party in Nashville that just happened this past weekend while it is still super fresh in my head! My sister in law gets married the first weekend of February, so her last bash was in Nash! Let's get started!

Sweater: Leith | Tank: CS Gems | Skirt: Express | Boots: Vince Camuto

I really didn't know where to even start when it came to planning something in Nashville. I've been a few times before, but mostly for work and never for fun. I had only been downtown once, but again, work is a lot different than a fun trip! I started by asking the bride what her criteria was and she said:

1-- Have a fabulous girls weekend where we all come out saying "what happened??"

2-- And we feel like crap the next day but a whole lot closer as friends and most importantly family!

3-- Also nothing where I will be too cold.

She didn't really care about the specifics along the way so long as the above happened! We planned for about 10 girls total to be on this trip - that was the number I had in mind when I started my research.

Cardigan: I can't remember where I got this??! It's a dupe from an old one Anthro used to have years ago | Tank: Marshall's | Leggings: Spanx | Boots: Vince Camuto

We planned to arrive Friday afternoon when the Airbnb was ready for check-in at 3pm. We all took the day off - it's about a 4 hour drive from the St. Louis metro area, and I had 3 other girls with me to drive in our Tahoe. We ended up leaving around 11am, and by the time we stopped and got ourselves to the Airbnb, it was close to 4pm. I wanted to be comfortable in my travel outfit, so leggings was definitely the way to go.

Our plan for Friday evening was simply to have snacks and cocktails and play some games. We ordered pizza and the general consensus was that no one felt like getting dressed to go out out. Other people were traveling in from other states, so this flexible schedule allowed everyone to arrive at their leisure!

We stayed at a really adorable 3-story, 4 bedroom, 4 bath Airbnb. Three of the bedrooms had a single bed, but could sleep 2 people each. The 4th bedroom had two sets of bunkbeds. There was also plenty of couch space if we needed more room. I knew it was going to be a good house when the first person in our group arrived and she said, "I feel like I'm on Real World!" Everything was clean and things like soap, shampoo, toilet paper, paper towels, coffee, etc. were well stocked with surplus easy to find. I hate going places and you're digging for extra rolls of toilet paper! Not here. Check in and check out directions were clear AND it was a quick 5 miles/10 minute uber ride to downtown.

Game night ended up being SO fun! We played Hearing Things, which is a game I saw one of my coworkers playing over the holidays on Facebook and it looked hilarious - and it was! I also picked up a more risqué game called For the Girls at Target where we learned a bit too much about each other.... All in all, it was a lot of fun for a night in!

Saturday morning we knew we had to take photos at the angel's wings. I searched for brunch places nearby and found Biscuit Love. There were 7 of us that morning, and I was concerned that they didn't take reservations. I also didn't realize that it was a fast-casual restaurant where you order at the counter, you seat yourself, and they bring your food to the table. There was a line outside to get in, which again, had me a bit worried when we got out of the car. BUT, to our surprise, the line went really fast - I would be surprised if we waited 20 minutes.

On top of that, a community table happened to be open as we were paying for our food at the register, so we didn't even have to wait to get a table! This was at noon on a Saturday, so I expected it to take some time. We were in and out pretty quickly - it wasn't even 1pm by the time we left to take our pictures.

The food was soo good! We split some Bonuts and Bacon for the table. I ordered the East Nasty for my meal. The coffee was perfect and the mimosa was tasty! We were pleased and ready to walk off some calories!

The wings were literally around the corner from the restaurant. What's funny is that it is right at the entrance of a parking garage, so when you walk around the corner, you see this massive line to nothing before you realize the mural is right there and that's why people are waiting. It's totally free, and there is no one manning the location. So we just had the strangers behind us take our group photo, and then we alternated taking individual photos in front of the wings.

Jacket: Express | Sweater: Express | Scarf: Treasure and Bond | Leggings: Spanx | Boots: Sole Society

I had to post these baby wings because they don't get enough air time on social media! Ha! I look like a little dragonfly.

We then started walking from this area (called The Gulch) to Broadway. What I didn't realize looking on the map is that Broadway actually passes OVER us. So needless to say, we walked a bit farther than we needed to and ended up on the opposite side of Broadway compared to where all the action was. But, it all worked out!

As we were walking, a tractor drives by pulling a trailer. One of us joked about why we didn't have a tractor driving us since we had been walking forever and everyone was sweaty at that point! The tractor driver yelled at us asking if we wanted a ride. We were hesitant at first, but then he said it was free! Free is always good.

We crossed the street to get more details. They are called The Nashville Tractor and usually do city tours, though there were no scheduled tours that day, hence why it was free for us. he said he would drive us around, and they had alcohol on board that we could purchase. Yes and yes! I think we were all a bit confused how we ended up on a tractor, but it was so much fun! He played booty music, served us beer, there were cup holders, the floor lit up, and did I mention he played booty music?! It was the most randomly fun time!

We ended up riding around for about an hour or so. They made one stop at a bar called Losers. They said they dropped us there because they served Vodka-infused Capri Sun. SAY WHAT???! Sign me up!! We only stayed for about 20 minutes - long enough to have a drink and take some pics. Again, super random, but we loved it!

The Nashville Tractor

Here is a better shot of our ride for the afternoon. So there was the driver and a bartender. It was great that it was open air but covered. We honestly could not have asked for better weather either. It was not chilly at all even with the open air. In January!

Originally, I planned for us to have dinner at ACME Feed and Seed. I had read really good reviews, and I loved that each floor offered something different. There were also great photo ops like the one above. What turned me off though was that they didn't take reservations and I figured for a group of potentially 10, dinner reservations were a must, so we cut it from the list. Ironically enough though, the tractor dropped us off within a block of ACME. We decided to get a drink somewhere and someone suggested we look for a rooftop bar. ACME has an amazing rooftop, so voila, we ended up stopping in after all!

The one theme of this trip was stairs!!! For whatever reason, everywhere we went involved walking up and down multiple flights of stairs at a time. Our Airbnb I mentioned being 3 stories - there was a living area with a wet bar upstairs, but the kitchen was downstairs. But the living area was more comfortable for us to lounge around in. So this meant walking up and down stairs all night! Then the whole debacle with Broadway being wayyyyy above the street we were walking on - that was easily 7 flights to get to that street level! ACME was no exception to this theme. The roof was 5 floors up, so we had to make sure we took a group shot on the stairs. Misery loves company! It was funny. And painful and tiring. But mostly funny!

If you follow me on Snapchat you were able to see a full video tour of the Airbnb. I cannot recommend it enough! Here is a group shot of us on the first floor right before we left. Such a cute painting/art piece.

We realized all our group shots involved a few of us crouching in the front so you could never get full body views of our outfits! At dinner, we made sure to take a side by side photo. The bride requested that we all wear sparkles of some kind!

Dinner ended up being at 417 Union. I found them on the Open Table app. I wanted to find some place that was casual but with a good menu, great cocktails, medium price range, and could accommodate reservations for a group of 10. What I didn't realize when booking with them is that they are only open until 8:30pm, but our reservation was at 7:45pm! I was concerned that it would be awful, but it was great. Even though we were legit the only table in there by the end of the meal, the food was good and the manager did a great job making us feel welcome and the bride feel special. And we were able to take that group shot above without people in the way! Extra bonus!

We had 3 bars on our agenda to hit after dinner. The first stop was The Stage. I figured we needed to see some live music while we were here, and this place delivered! The band played a mix of country, rock, and pop - anything and everything that would get you to sing and dance. We figured if the other two places sucked, we could always come back here.

That's one great thing about the bars on Broadway. They are all within walking distance and there is no cover! So you can really come and go as you please. We stayed there for about an hour or so and then we were off to Honky Tonk Central. It was a one-stop shop with multiple bars on different floors (again with the stairs!!) We found a not-so crowded floor and had a couple of rounds of drinks and a lot of dancing to the band!

Our last stop starts to get a bit fuzzy for me, not going to lie. But we ended the night at Crazy Town. This was the most nightclub-y feeling to me than the others - dark, DJ, lightshow. From what I remember.....

Splitwise app

All in all, it was a super fun night! We took an Uber to dinner (2 sets of Ubers) and then walked from bar to bar before cabbing it back home for the night. The one super useful app was Splitwise! When you go out with a group of people, you all end up paying for each other sometimes. This app keeps track of everything so you know how much people are paying for you and how much you are paying for others. It does all the math for you and at the end of the trip, you can settle up with them directly through the app with Venmo or Paypal. It was so super helpful to see running totals, and it also made our servers' lives easier since often times we didn't have to split the tabs!

WHEW!! I typed so fast to get all that out, I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but there you have it! The bride was very happy with how the weekend turned out, and it was so much fun for me and I wasn't even the bride! It was a great group of girls in such a fun city and all the locals were friendly and food delicious! You need to make a stop there at some point in life! There's a reason why people call it Nash-vegas!

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