I had my hen do this weekend, IT WAS FANTASTIC!
A little background - my bridesmaids planned everything, and bless, they did an amazing job. I only found out where we were going/what we were doing a few weeks ago. This totally took away all the stress from me and as they shared the jobs it wasn't too bad for them. So, here goes....
Friday 3rd February
A day spent at school for me, luckily I have a student in at the moment who has taken over much of the teaching responsibilities of my class. It meant I was out the door at bell time (quite a rarity!) and had the chance to pack/have a sneaky nap before leaving for the Peak District. My friend picked me and another girl up and we drove to Foolow in the peak district. By the time we neared the cottages it was freezing outside, pitch black and extremely remote (no snow yet though!!). We found "Brosterfield Farm" by a stroke of luck as it was quite hidden - we just happened to see one of the other hens tying balloons to the entrance at the end of the very long drive up to the actual farm!
On arrival I was greeted by the other hens (10 of us altogether) "SURPRISE!!!!" who jumped out of the living room to greet me! We had 2 cottages side by side, they were perfect - wood burning fire, huge dining room table, open plan living, 2 bathrooms etc. etc, just a perfect sociable place.
That evening we all donned our best "Bad Jumper" and my friend cooked for us all. The bad jumper theme was hilarious! We had endless 90's music playing through spotify (Shaggy, anyone?!) and I ended up getting quite merry dancing till the early hours, a great first night!
You can't really tell from this pic but my jumper had some hideous cocktail glass beaded detail on the front, I'd stuck on the HEN letters including a giant hen on the reverse!
Saturday 4th February
After a relaxed morning we had lunch together and headed off to the local village for ceramic painting, this is RIGHT up my street!! By this time it had started snowing and doubts were being raised as to whether we'd make it into Sheffield for a meal and drinks in the evening as planned. We decided we wouldn't make it (just as well as the snow became very heavy). Initially I was gutted but as we decided to get glammed up as if we were going out and party away in the living rom I came round to the idea and it ended up being the best possible outcome! Luckily the girls had brought enough food and drink to supply us for a week!
We arrived at ceramic painting and all got to choose our item, I went for a jug. We were then left to it, so much fun! Here is my creation, complete with wedding date (Easter Sunday) and on the other side on the rim it has mine and fiance's names!
As hen I got gifted a free "momento" plate which one of my friends duely decorated for me:
We just about made it back in the snow for tea and cake and then spent a lazy afternoon dozing infront of the fire watching 27 Dresses on DVD. Throghout the weekend the girls had a made a big effort with food and made homemade goodies, including these amazing cake balls:
We then all got glammed up for the evening. Even though we were no longer actualy venturing out, everyone still made the effort as though we were, so I did my usual fake eyelash application! The girls called me downstairs and I was greeted by 9 girls with masks of me, blimmin' scary!!!!!
The girls had had put together a quiz from all funny/evetful things that have happened to me - provided plenty of laughter, they had also arranged with my fiance to set up a quiz based on the two of us (pretty embarassing at times!) and for each question I got right I got a prize, including nipple tassles, a grow your own stripper (standard), and best of all....
Hahaha! They had put together a photo book, its brillant.
Then commenced some serious dancing. The joy of being in a house as opposed to a nightclub was being able to take our heels off, choose the music and later on put on our pj's and carry on the party! No waiting for taxis/at the bar/letchy men etc etc!! We got to bed in the early hours of the morning, very drunk of course! Sunday morning, after bacon butties and hot chocolate we all said our goodbyes. I got a bit teary - I'm blessed with amazing friends and they produced such a memorable weekend. I now have a serious case of post-hen do blues, goodness knows what I'll be like after the actual wedding! But to all my fellow Easter weekend brides - under 9 WEEKS TO GO! WAHOOOOO!
A little note to anyone planning their hen do, I know what I did may not be everyones cup of tea but sharing a cottage/barn works out so much cheaper than a hotel, our whole weekend, which included chipping in for food, accommodation, ceramic painting etc came to just under £80 each.
Hope I've not bored everyone but I've enjoyed writing this! Been much more fun than planning school work! xxx
