A hen for the weekend

Our blogging bride Grace celebrated her official send off to married life at the weekend surrounded by her hens

After 10 months of planning my much awaited hen weekend was finally upon us, and despite the torrential rain (well it is England) a fantastic time was had by all. 17 of my bessie mates, family and family-to-be descended on Bournemouth for a girly weekend from as far afield as South Africa.

On Friday night, a girly night was planned – my maid of honour Katherine, arranged for a pamper party service to come to the house (decked in Hen Party decorations!), so we had treatments such as massages, facials and pedicures in between sips of cocktails and girly banter. National Wedding Show exhibitor ‘Blush’ offer a great pamper party package; see the website for more details http://www.blush.uk.com/parties.php. My bridesmaid Louise also surprised us with some fun games which were a hoot after a few rounds of drinks.

On Saturday our beach picnic was rained off so we had afternoon tea which my maid of honour planned – as I have mentioned in a previous blog, I am a cake fanatic so it really was my heaven!
In the evening we all got glammed up and went to an amazing restaurant overlooking the sea – my mum had arranged for us to hire the private room, which was basically a glass box perched on a cliff, very dramatic and the food was amazing. No hen party is complete without dancing the night away, my bridesmaid Louise arranged for us to go to a club where my all time favourite DJ was playing; I was over the moon!

All in all it was a wonderful send off for me into the world of marriage-hood, spent with the people who mean more to me than anything. My bridesmaids’, friends and family went to so much effort to make sure it really was perfect!

A hen party should be something personal to you, for some more unusual ideas for hen parties, the National Wedding Show has it all – from haunted house experiences with Haunted Happenings http://www.hauntedhappenings.co.uk/ to bridal confidence coaching with an ex supermodel Michele Paradise https://mail.goodresults.co.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.micheleparadise.com/bigday, dance workshops with Dance Experiences https://mail.goodresults.co.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.dancexperiences.co.uk to bespoke millinery courses with luxury hat maker Janie Lawson www.janielawson.com/janielawsonmillc.html

Hitched.co.uk have teamed up with the NWS to give you the chance to win a designer wedding dress plus a cocktail dress for the evening

Play and win 3 games of pool!

Simply play and win 3 consecutive games of pool against 3 different opponents to be entered into a draw to win.

You could even double your chances by bringing along your husband to be!

Win yourself a Blue by Enzoani designer wedding dress, plus a cocktail dress from the LOVE collection for the evening

or

A £1200 contribution towards an Enzoani collection dress plus a cocktail dress from the LOVE collection for the evening

Additionally, visit the hitched.co.uk stand and register with us to be entitled to a 10% voucher towards an Enzoani wedding dress to be redeemed at participating stockist's. Plus a 10% voucher towards the hitched.co.uk Wedding Shop.

Visit www.hitched.co.uk for further information

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Food Glorious Food…

Our blogging bride Grace continues on her quest to plan the perfect wedding

Steven and I are unashamed to confess that we are real foodies! One of the massive draws of our chosen venue Haberdashers’ Hall was the award winning caterers that accompany it, Chester Boyd. We knew deciding on a menu for our 80 guests was going to be tough, so we ‘roped’ in my Mum and Dad to help us decide so they came along for the day. I hasten to add they didn’t need much persuading!

We spent a wonderful afternoon at Haberdashers’ Hall, we pre chose options for each course to taste – two amuse- bouche, two starters, two main courses and two desserts – all washed down with champagne! Each dish was as delicious as the next and we are still trying to decide between lamb or duck for a main.

With our gorgeous Ivy Ellen http://ivyellenweddinginvitations.co.uk/bespoke invites now in the post, we are eagerly awaiting our guests to RSVP so we make all the final arrangements with the venue and start the all important and much daunting task of the table plan!

Next stop - Bananas about cake

Next on the list of wedding ‘to-do’s’ was to choose our cake – as a passionate cake baker this has to be something really special! With so many options to choose from cupcakes, dessert cakes, cheesecakes, even Whoopie Pie cakes – my first stop was to ask some National Wedding Show exhibitors for advice – all of whom suggested that we go with what we really like rather than what is in fashion.

We decided pretty early on that we wanted a cake that looked very traditional (in keeping with our venue and theme) but should have a bit of a modern twist. With banana cake being my ultimate favourite and chocolate being Steven’s, we have chosen a layer of each to accompany the traditional fruit. We hope the four tier creation will impress our guests!

If you too are looking for a London based company to fulfil your cake dreams:
You will find stunning bespoke cakes at The Little Cakery http://www.thelittlecakery.co.uk/

For the ultimate cupcake tower The Humming Bird Bakery will impress http://hummingbirdbakery.com/

If traditional isn’t your bag, indulge in the ultimate dessert cake at The English Cheesecake Company http://www.englishcheesecake.com/