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All you need is love and …

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All you need is love and a great hen’s night.

Hen’s nights are a rite of passage for a bride.  They can also be very loud, expensive and boozy, which is great if that’s what the bride wants, but can be absolutely hell if it’s not.

If you’re the maid of honour or a bridesmaid and have been given the task of organising the hens night, there’s a few things to keep in mind when you start planning.

Pick a budget that suits most people, no point choosing a weekend away at a 5 star hotel if no one can actually afford to share in the celebration. Remember you do not have to foot the bill for the whole affair, work out how much each person has to pay and stick to that, most guests will be happy to chip in for the event to honour the bride.

Make sure you ask the bride what she wants to do. It’s quite risky to guess and just surprise her.  Your idea and her idea may be way off, and you really want the bride to enjoy herself.

Check with her about what she’s happy to have happen at the event. You don’t want to be buying penis shaped necklaces if the idea absolutely makes her cringe. Check if she is happy with a prop for the evening, to distinguish her as the hen, she may not want to wear a veil and sash, but may be happy with something more tasteful like a tiara. Remember it’s her hen’s night, you need to make sure she has a great night.

There’s a ton of ideas for things to do

  • Weekend away, could be a 5 star hotel or a camping trip
  • Spa day, choose her favourite spa, and book everyone in for some pampering.  There are even mobile spa’s who come to your home.
  • Wine Tasting/Wine trail, if you live in an area where you can visit more than one vineyard, you could make a day of it, and have a lunch at a vineyard restaurant.
  • Cocktail party, hire a bartender for the night to make different cocktails. A great chance for everyone to dress up and pretend to be in “Sex in the City”.
  • Dance lesson, maybe a salsa class, or belly dancing or burlesque or pole dancing.
  • Sex toy party, get your giggle on, and maybe stock the bride up for the honeymoon.
  • Hire a private chef and host a black tie dinner party.
  • Vintage High Tea, you can book into some restaurants for this or organise it at home, think vintage china, cucumber sandwiches, mini cakes.
  • Paintball, skydiving, bungy jumping for the more adventurous bride.
  • Pottery/ceramic painting.  There are venues where you can go,have  a lesson and make your own pottery and/or paint some ceramic and they fire it for you to pick up at a later date.
  • Hire a room/suite at a 5 star hotel for the night, and go out for a night on the town, then all stay the night together, kind of like a flash pajama party.

A hen’s night is about the bride coming together with her female friends to celebrate the transition from single to married, it is a chance to reflect on your relationships and for a bride’s friends to support her at this special time.

All you need is love and …

Published on by angelaport2 Comments

All you need is love and …an unplugged wedding.

What’s an unplugged wedding?

Imagine a photo of you, as a bride getting ready with your bridesmaids, shared on Facebook before you get to the wedding. Imagine the first time people see your wedding is through your 14-year-old niece’s unflattering Instagram upload.  Imagine your professional (paid) photographer being unable to get that perfect shot because Great Aunty Daisy has her IPad right in front of you. Imagine walking down the aisle on your wedding day but unable to see anyone’s faces because they all have their phones or cameras out. All scenarios I’ve been witness to, and all perfectly good reasons for an unplugged wedding.

An unplugged wedding makes your professional photographers job so much easier (remember that lovely talented photographer, who you are paying a lot of money to, to get those once in a lifetime shots?) There’s nothing worse for a photographer when everyone’s got their cell phones out and it trying to get that shot, or getting in their way while they try to capture that first look of the bride.

In today’s digital age, absolutely everyone’s connected 24/7. Everyone’s firing off tweets and Instagram photos like nobody’s business and it’s easy for people to get into the thinking of  ‘if it hasn’t been uploaded in some way, then it didn’t really happen’.

Unplugged weddings are becoming very popular with couples who don’t want their wedding splashed all over social media, before the day’s finished. In fact probably 90% of my couples ask for an unplugged wedding. I ask them at our planning meetings what their thoughts are on this, some have very definite thoughts, others have never heard of it, and once I explain it to them, completely understand. Unplugged is not just about not sharing photos on social media, it’s also about asking your guests to be fully present in your ceremony and/or day.  It’s asking people to turn off their phones/cameras/computers and just enjoying what’s going on around them.

There are many nice ways to ask your guests. Most people include it on their invitations, some include a sign at the entrance to the venue, and I usually  remind guests before the ceremony begins to switch everything off, enjoy the ceremony and they can continue taking snaps and selfies after the ceremony and at the reception. If you have a relative who is going to be put off by not being able to take photos, you can remind them that they can get a copy of the professional photos after the wedding.

Just remember it’s your day so do what feels right to you.