Two weekends ago I had my bachelorette party in Hermann, MO. When I thought about my bachelorette I initially struggled with narrowing down what I wanted to do. Prior to getting engaged I knew very little of Hermann outside of the fact that my parents camped there every once in a while.
Originally I thought about going to the Lake of the Ozarks because I love the beach and LOZ is the closest weekend beach trip I could get in Missouri, but I thought about the vibe of the Lake of the Ozarks crowd as a whole and didn't think it would be 100% me or what I wanted from the weekend.
Then, I learned Hermann was the bachelorette party city of Missouri, known for their vineyards and historic community. I was intrigued. I'm a frequent visitor of breweries, but I'm not often at wineries so I thought that would be fun & usually there is a wine type for everyone. While there were a lot of individual business websites explaining what they offered I didn't find a lot of blog posts on Hermann from the perspective of a bride or bridal party. So here we are!
Overall Thoughts:
Bridal Shower: The Cottage
I had no part in the planning of the bridal shower so I can't speak to how easy communication was with the vendor but I can speak to the beauty of The Cottage. They have treehouses and cabins on site for lodging if you're looking for a cute getaway. They also have an event space which is what we used for the bridal shower. It was situated a little ways back off the main highway cutting through the town but it's absolutely stunning. They had the perfect amount of space for our gathering, had a small kitchen prep area, and plenty of room to set up a buffet area for brunch and drinks.
Bachelorette: Lodging
I originally was hoping to host my bachelorette in October, but October kicks off Oktoberfest in Hermann and Airbnb and other lodging prices shot through the roof during the month so I chose the end of September instead. I also originally anticipated my mom and a few family friends staying with me so I was trying to find a space to fit 14, we ended up only needing space for seven. If I originally looked for an Airbnb of that size I probably could've found a few more options but we ended up going with John's "Trolley Tower- Library." It was wonderful! The location was perfect — centrally located to the downtown shops and restaurants and literally next door to the Hermann Trolley. The only negative to the Airbnb is that it is on the first floor of a three story building that are all Airbnb rentals from the same owner and you could definitely hear every foot step of the floors above us. This wasn't too big of a deal at night but wasn't great when they started vacuuming before 7 a.m. when check out wasn't until 10 a.m. I'd still recommend the Airbnb just wanted to raise the concern tied to noise if that is a bigger priority you have.
Transportation: Hermann Trolley
The Hermann Trolley is the way to travel if you're wanting to winery hop. Once we paid for our wristbands we had all-day access to the Trolley's services. After you're done at a winery if a trolley wasn't there you could call the number on the wristbands and they'd pick your group up. One thing to note that wasn't clear on their website is that they're a cash only establishment. This created a moment of panic because only a few bridesmaids had cash and we did a Venmo chain to each other to make it all work out. It wasn't a huge deal and we were all covered but I wanted to share that with others!
Wineries:
Another thing I didn't do my research on was what time the wineries closed because I assumed they'd all be open until like 7 or 8 p.m. in the early fall. I was incorrect. Most closed by 5 or 6 p.m. which meant we were only able to go to two wineries but honestly that was a good amount!
We started at Adam Puchta Winery. We had to pay an entry fee but it included a "free" wine tasting for six different wines. It was pretty busy when we arrived so it took a bit to get to the front of the line but it was a beautiful day and we didn't mind the wait. Honestly I like all of the wine we sampled and most of the group seemed to like at least five out of six of the samples. I ended up getting a tropical punch wine slushy and I loved it.
After we hung out here for a bit we learned that the wineries closed early so we said goodbye to my mom and family friends who went with us to the first winery to go to the second place.
The Hermann Trolley took us to Stone Hill Winery next. Their wine options were fairly limited and I'm not sure if that was due to them closing so soon to when we visited but I did think it was odd that they were situated on such a large piece of property and claimed to be out of wine for wine samplings. I ended up splitting a bottle of wine with one of my bridesmaids, Megan, though, and it all worked out. It just would’ve been fun to sample all of the wine like we did at Adam Puchta. The views here were absolutely incredible. I’d come back with family or friends earlier in the day just to sit outside and enjoy the vineyard.
Food
After hopping off the trolley after the second winery we were all ready to eat. Across the street from our Airbnb and the trolley drop off was Concert Hall and Barrel. It wasn’t anything fancy, your typical bar food and environment but they had good service (especially for serving a larger group during a busy time of night).
Night Life
I hoped to have a pretty relaxed evening after such a busy morning and afternoon. After dinner we hung out at the Airbnb and played a few bachelorette games. Then we went to a place that my parents and friends had hyped up that I really wanted to check out — Doxie Slush. They stay open late so it’s a great option when other places are closed. I tried a “flight” of seasonal and non-seasonal slushes — Pumpkin Spice Old Fashion, Maple Tamarind Margarita, and Strawberry Amaretto Shortcake. I do have to say I think this may have been a better place to start at or drink if you haven’t been drinking all day. The atmosphere of Doxie Slush was great, the flavors were unique, but when mixing with all the other alcohol from the day I would recommend the more “safe” flavors than the fall ones. Another note, my dad insists on trying the lobster mac and cheese. I wasn’t hungry enough to try it and it was $23 but my dad never spends $23 on a meal so I know it has to be good if he’s endorsing it.
My one day getaway to Hermann for my bridal shower and bachelorette was everything I could’ve wanted in a weekend. I want to give a shout out to Rita and Amy Paulus (and really the whole Paulus family) for all of their effort and time bringing the day to life. It was absolutely perfect.
If you’re not looking to plan wedding-themed events but still want to explore Hermann I think all of the places I discussed above are places I’d recommend you check out except for where we went to dinner. I think you could probably find a better place to dine unless you’re good with bar food! I am hoping that next time I visit (hopefully with David!), I can check out the brewery and coffee/breakfast places in town.
Have any questions about traveling to Hermann? Let me know! I’ll try to give my best advice!
Until next time,
Taylor xx
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