The beautiful Christy featured as our Cwtch of the Week yesterday and we will be showcasing the full wedding this Friday. In the meantime here is big sister, our Homemade Bride Kate, to tell you all about planning the hen do!
When my little sister managed to organise a perfect hen party, she set the bar extremely high. Not only had she managed to make sure all of my favourite people were there, she had thought of all my favourite things to do, eat, drink and some how all of these were included in my amazing weekend. The thing is, I had an ace up my sleeve that she didn’t realise. I had been listening to all the little ideas from all of my brides over the years and cherry picking the ones that I thought that she would love. For anyone who has ever organised a hen you will quickly work out that not only is it a whole heap of work but you want to make it one of the most memorable experiences of the hen’s life.
The beautiful bride
I was very lucky that I was able to have a partner in crime, Rhian. She has been Christy’s best friend since school and she knows her better than anyone. Now for anyone who knows the pair of us we are both very organised in our professional lives. Personal life, not so much. We both had to look at this as a job. We couldn’t let her down. So we had many hen organising meetings. I will admit a couple of them were more coffee and a catch up but we did eventually get the job done!
Since we had decided we wanted a girly soirée rather than a chavtastic night out… we booked Ascot! It was a great excuse to put on a posh frock. Not to mention wear a fancy hat! And our ladies did us proud. They really pulled out all the stops when it came time to choosing their hats and everyone looked stunning.
As I said it was the little things, from my brides, that I had remembered to make it memorable for her. We needed an ice breaker. This is where Rhian did an amazing job and organised a leaflet with a picture of everyone attending the hen on it and how they knew the bride. Perfect! The other thing that she had got printed was a little business card of the hotels name and some contact numbers, just in case anyone got lost.
The next thing I did was ask each hen for a song that reminded them of the bride. With a 2 hour bus ride I wanted to make sure we had some good tunes. Basically each time a new song came on she had to work out who had chosen it and then tell everyone the memory or the reason it was chosen. Once again helping to break the ice between people as we heard some brilliant stories of nights out, singing in school or epic gym sessions. This also triggered spontaneous dancing in the aisles and at times everyone singing at the top of their lungs! The numerous bottles of champagne donated by the groom may have helped with this.
Now a hen is not a hen without her paraphernalia. As her fiancés nickname is Horse we bought her an inflatable stallion. My mum made her the most amazing sash out of burlap, lace and bling and the fanciest “L” plate you have ever seen. Definitely a labour of love and definitely worth each and every minute.
Christy and Mum
The other thing I did as a surprise for her was instead of taking photos of the hen, I took little video clips. Then using a movie making app, I put it all together and gave it to her the night before the wedding. Why not on the morning of her wedding? As a make up artist I knew it might make her cry so I didn’t want to ruin any make up on the day. You will be surprised how many times I have to touch up make up after reading cards and receiving gifts! It was definitely not something she was expecting from me as I am the least technical person that I know and I shocked myself at how easy it was to do, but it was worth every minute seeing how much she loved it. Now for any of you who know my sister you will know she doesn’t cry easily. I was very happy I managed to break the ice queen as she squeezed out a couple of tears.
Sister love! Kate and Christy.
Now where would a hen party be without some toilet roll wedding dresses, some pin the tail on the donkey and one hunky butler in the buff. It was honestly on of the best shopping experiences ever, as Rhian wrote down all the things we wanted in a man. Clean cut, good body…if only it was as easy as that in real life! I will never forget her face as he walked through the door. This handsome semi naked man bringing her dinner as she starts choking on her bread roll. The best part of it is none of the other hens knew either so their were a few of them who choked on their wine before it erupted into applause.
I can only hope that I did her half as proud as she did me. Even with all the stress of organising 25 people for the weekend the money hassles, the bookings, the phone calls, the logistics, the food orders, I would do it all over again to just see her having the time of her life.
This all sounds amazing, we would love to hear from you if you have planned a hen, have amazing hen party ideas or if you just want to say thanks for your amazing hen do, leave a comment in the box! Now we can’t wait to see the full wedding on Friday!
