When thinking about my hen do all I wanted was a weekend away to celebrate with my best girls in a beautiful house and that is exactly what I got plus a load of extra touches that made it even more personal to me. They did an amazing job and I had the best time ever! So much so I wanted to preserve the memory forever which is why I am writing this post and who knows it may spark some ideas for any of you planning a hen do in the near future.
I left the planning of my hen do to my bridesmaids which if you know me is a big thing to not be in control ha. I’m not going to lie it was pretty stressful as I like to have a plan but I had given them loads of ideas as to what I would like and then left them to it. I knew I was going to York and who was coming but other than that it was all a surprise. So with that said it’s time to relive one of my favourite weekends.
Friday
Surprise number 1 happened before I even got on the train to York. I had been told to get to Piccadilly station for 1.45pm and from there I would be getting the train to York. I didn’t know who I was meeting but I assumed it was one of the Manchester girls however it was my mum who met me there (I thought she was working) which was such a lovely surprise. She had even booked us first class tickets so we could travel down in a comfy seat with a glass of prosecco to toast the journey. At York we were met by my sister and my nephew Jake all dressed up in his Harry Potter themed outfit I had bought him. They then had the job of keeping me entertained until they were given the go ahead to bring me to the house so we had a lovely time exploring York in the sunshine.
At 7.30pm we arrived at the house which was beautiful and perfect size for 15 of us sleeping there. Most of the girls were there waiting for me when I arrived and it was just so lovely to see everyone there and all together. They had decorated the living, dining and kitchen area with photos of Elliot and I, photos with each of them and some baby and young pictures too. There were party bags for them all, games to play and a Polaroid camera to get pictures from the whole weekend.
We spent the rest of the evening drinking (alot of) prosecco, eating food, catching up, playing silly games and singing karaoke into the early hours of the morning.
Saturday
I would like to say we all woke up fresh and ready for the day ahead but it was more a slow and steady affair nursing slightly sore heads from the night before. But as we didn’t have anything planned until 1.30pm this gave us time to have a nice breakfast and a few of us go on a walk into York. The weather was perfect the whole weekend sunny blue skies and warm, couldn’t have asked for better really.
At 1.30pm we all went over to a nearby dance space that they had hired as my friend Eilidh was going to lead a heels dance class for us all. It was amazing, we spent 1 1/2 hours releasing our inner Beyonce and getting our sass on to Crazy in Love. I have recently started to dance again so this was perfect and everyone joined in and gave it their best even if it was way out of their comfort zone.
After this it was back to the house to chill out eat some pizza and get ready for nights activities starting with a cocktail class at Vodka Revolution. Not before a I was played a video of Mr and Mrs from Elliot which made me cry, laugh and cringe a bit inside as well.
The cocktail class was great fun, our host Conner was great making us all laugh whilst creating some pretty tasty cocktails and some not so nice shots. We all got a go at creating our favourites mine of course being the Pornstar Martini. Then the finisher was a shot domino which you can see in the picture below. My job was to drink a shot then start the domino race to the end and drink the other shot by the time the last one fell. I pretty much did that but who chooses red shots whilst wearing white ha ?!
After this we went for some food, had a dance and then back to house to carry on the party for some and bed for others.
Sunday
Breakfast, tidy of the house and saying our goodbyes.
They had created a Kiss the Miss goodbye memento and written me notes as all the polaroids I got to keep which was so thoughtful. The cards made me cry and laugh at the same time and the others are up on my wall. What I loved most about this weekend was how much thought had gone into it, how my bridesmaids Bobbie and Pam had planned it all and how personal touches were added. It was also the fact that a group made up from different friendship groups got on so well and became friends from it.
It was the most perfect weekend and I couldn’t stop smiling all weekend. I feel honoured I can call these ladies my friends and I now am even more excited for the wedding so we are all together again!
Thank you ladies I love you all so much xxxx
