Nashville Girl's Trip - Bachelorette Edition
- Savanna Sylvis
- Jun 2, 2021
- 7 min read
Updated: Mar 2, 2024
Tis' the season for bridal parties all across the United States -- from Las Vegas to Miami to Dallas to New York City to Seattle to Los Angeles to sweet southern country Nashville, Tennessee! In this blog post, I wanted to dive into my weekend trip to Nashville for my dear friend's bachelorette party! In all honesty, I am not completely sure where the idea of Nashville truly came from considering no one has really ever been there (I guess thinking about it now maybe that was the reason..?) or have ever expressed much interest collectively about it but man am I glad we did!
Getting together with some of your best college gal pals for a small reunion, let me tell ya, is always a good idea. Pure joy and laughter all weekend long. A lot of yeehaw's and boot scoot n' boogies were shouted!
In just a matter of 3 1/2 days, we managed to pack in all things Nashville, country and bridal. We came into the weekend with our itinerary and a well organized plan of weekend "must-dos". In this post, I wanted to write about our trip while also informing you all on what to expect and prepare for if you are to ever go to Nashville yourself. I touch on the food, the people, the environment, the packing list and most importantly... which bar you must go to for a mechanical bull!!! Exclusively in this blog post, I have attached my two attempts in riding the bull with one hand.
Food
Yes, of course I am going to start this post off with the food in Nashville -- it did not disappoint. All of the restaurants we ended up going to were highly rated and with good reason! First, I want to preface that we did not go out for each meal we actually ordered groceries ahead of time on Amazon and had them delivered to our Airbnb to lower costs and make it more convenient for meals. I am so glad we did this not only for our wallets sake but also so that we could snack and have food to come back to later on in the evenings.
On Friday we went to a brunch spot called Stateside Kitchen. This place was underneath a modern, downtown hotel and was so beautifully decorated -- the vibe was great with music bumping and everyone chatting and singing along all together. The photos below show the atmosphere and the DELICIOUS spicy chicken sandwich with buttermilk ranch that I had ordered from their menu along with a VERY boozy frozen rosé. I apologize for my half eaten picture but I was too busy enjoying it to think of taking a photo until half way through, so my apologies except... I know you would understand if you too had this sandwich!
Later that evening, we had reserved a vip table at the Valentine bar. The bar provides the table with two chasers, a bottle of liquor, bride and bachelorette merch, a shout out from the band AND two appetizers. And you can already guess where this is going. If you asked, "did they have some tasty dang honey barbecue wings???" Then the answer is YES, you guessed correctly. I was so hesitant to eat the wings in the first place but then the bride-to-be looked over at me and said "Sylvis, do you want a wing?" I couldn't turn her down!
The following day, we went to a Mexican style restaurant called Rose Pepper. This place had such a great ambience and kept it consistent throughout the whole restaurant -- it was so fun and energetic. Low key, my favorite room in this whole establishment was the bathroom! That sounds totally weird and a little disgusting I realize... but it had AMAZING glitter walls that were top-to-bottom textured sparkles! A unicorn-fairy dream. We sat outdoors on their lifted patio enjoying the warm weather while drinking their "well-known" margaritas.... I think the reason they are well-known is for how dang STRONG they make those things!.. I had ordered two veggie tacos to go with my marg and it came with a delicious rice and bean combo on the side.
Lastly for food, the morning before our flights, we all walked downtown (like we did each morning) to grab coffee and we decided to stop in a new spot at the Blue Stripes Urban Cacao. There used to be a location in New York City but due to COVID the Nashville one looks to be the only one open as of now. I grabbed a cappuccino and an egg sandwich (always on a croissant). Quite tasty! If you find yourself there and are on the fence about what you want to order, I would suggest the dirty chai and avocado toast! We got our coffee and sandwiches to go and sat outside next to a peaceful fountain and small turf park for dogs!
Bars/ Events
Although the food was great, the bars and rooftops were truly the weekend highlights. As I did with food, I am going to go in chronological order for the bars and events. Thursday, night one. We all arrived at different times, so once everyone finally settles into the Airbnb, we made dinner and got ready for our "drunk in love," themed bus party. The company we booked our evening with was called, The Honky Tonk Party Express. It is an open air party bus with a personal DJ and bar; the open top felt incredible in the southern heat. Pink was the color of the night. We had rocked those fun, pink heart sunglasses to go along with our theme. The bus had some railings and benches that we could stand and dance on. As we passed slowly through the streets, we would sing to the crowds and join the fun along Broadway as well. This was the perfect way to kick-off the bachelorette weekend activities.
Friday day, we went out to explore more rooftops on Broadway and soak in the sunshine. We stopped in at the Jason Aldean bar first and walked all the way up five reeeaallllyyyy long flights of stairs. We got to the top and found a table top to chat and catch a quick tan. Caution to those that journey to Nash on a hot, sunny day; the tables and chairs get hot from sitting out all day and can sizzle the skin! The picture of the concrete table is in the below picture.
Friendly tip: Drink lots of water and avoid resting your arms on the table-top. Instead, try standing or resting on your purse if you have one.
As much as I will say I liked the view and atmosphere at Jason Aldean's, I was more impressed with the Luke Bryan bar just around the corner. They are located just next door and share a piece of the same rooftop together but was just all around more enjoyable. The lay out was more inviting and there's an exclusive patio to watch live performers on stage. The half shaded/ half sunny seating area also was definitely inviting. Nashville is a place of real talent, every artist we had the privilege to enjoy, were all PHENOMENAL.
After we left Luke Bryan, we headed back to the Airbnb to get ready for our reservation and VIP table at The Valentine. Here we got to enjoy food, drinks, locals and of course the MUSIC! The band there was by far, all of our favorites. The energy oozing from this band was unmatched, they knew how to engage the crowd! By which I mean dancing on tables, rocking the guitar on the sidewalk outside the establishment and running throughout the crowd. They were all so personable and kind. (As was everyone we interacted with on our Tennessee trip).
The days following, we made stops at the Wild Beaver Saloon, The Stage, Florida Georgia Line, Tootsies and Jimmy Buffett. In order from my favorite to least favorite! The best bar BY A LANDSLIDE, was the Wild Beaver Saloon.
I just so happened to stumble upon this one as I was doing a search in google for "mechanical bulls in Nashville, TN." I called a couple of places before this one and what had sold me on the Wild Beaver was their answering machine. It more or less went a little something like, "YEEHAW, HOWDY THERE WE GOT THE BEST DAMN KARAOKE, WE GOT THE BEST DAMN MECHANICAL BULL WE GOT THE BEST DAMN MUSIC IN ALL OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE..." Don't quote me exactly, but I didn't even need to get as far as speaking with an actual person before hanging up and saying "yep, that's the place we are going to next!" The pictures below speak 1,000 words... thought, the videos say even more!
PURE HAPPINESS!
And now for the videos...YEEHAW!
Hair up?
Or..... hair down?
One of the best minutes of my life thus far. If this isn't on your own bucket list, I strongly suggest that you reconsider! Though this trip was short lived, the girls and I made the most of our time and had such a blast.
Packing List
3 to 4 day trip:
- Toiletries (please don't forget your tooth brush, chapstick and moisturizer)
- Small first aid (hey, you never know)
- Sunscreen!!!
- Sunglasses
- Hair tie
- Swimsuit
- Triple Barrel (really any styling tool)
- Shoes (1 comfy, 1 sandal, 1 heel and definitely your cowboy boots)
- A couple short, summer dresses
- Pair of jeans
- Denim shorts
- Comfy shorts
- T-shirt
- Under garments (don't forget your favorite pair of sticky boobs)
- Book or magazine
- Phone charger
- Polaroid camera
- Decorations!!!
- A deck of cards (this one we forgot but quickly regretted)
- Phone
- Wallet
- Keys
Anyone else get that feeling they are always missing something?...
All in all, Nashville truly surprised me in ways that I was not expecting and am pleasantly surprised! The people are kind, the weather is warm, transportation downtown is extremely accessible (walking, scootering, driving, etc), food and drinks are inexpensive and most of all the music is live every corner you turn!
Thank you for reading my little weekend travel adventure -- traveling is such a passion of mine and I hope to do more of it now that the vaccine is available and more countries are opening their borders due to the COVID-19 cases dropping. Yay!
Please write in the comments or direct message me what content you want to see and the articles you wish to read! I am full of ideas but love to hear what my readers are enjoying.
Until next time!
Xo,
SRS
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