Thursday 19 April 2012

My Top 10 Hen Do Games/Activities

Considering the hen do is the one part of my wedding that I'm not actually planning and sorting out (thank you in advance to my lovely bridesmaids who I absolutely know have done a fantabulous job), it's still something that I've put a lot of thought into. Yes, I have probably annoyed aforementioned lovely bridesmaids with my constant requests for do's and don'ts, but as I'm used to being in control, it's sometimes a bit hard to let go.

So, in my hen do brainstorming, I've come up with my top 10 games and activities for a brilliant hen do which I've accumulated through experience, the internet and word of mouth.



1)Mr and Mrs quiz. I've yet to attend a hen do where this didn't go down a storm. For those not familiar with the quiz of all quiz's, I'll give a bit of a summary. It's basically where you ask the groom in advance of the hen do to fill out a bit of a questionnaire on the bride, himself and their relationship. Then during the hen do, you ask the bride the same questions and get her to guess what he would have answered. The funnier the questions the better, and usually the humour comes from the variance in what the bride and the groom have to say more than anything else. A few of my favourites are, 'What is his worst habit?', 'What item do you find hard to share with your future husband?' and 'What celebrity does he fancy?'. I've played various versions of this game, but I think the best was when it was turned into a bit of a drinking game to get the night started. Each guest was given one of the questions to ask , and if the bride got it right, then the guest had to drink, but if the bride got it wrong, she did. Brilliance!

2)Dance Class! One of my favourite hen do's involved a Glee dance class. It was pure genius and got everyone laughing, twirling and singing along to the music together. Being a bit of a Gleek myself, I loved it!


P.S. Hope the lovely ladies above don't mind me posting these pics! They're brilliant!

3)Photo dares. I did this at one of my colleagues hen do's and it was such a great ice-breaker and a hilarious way to get everyone in the hen do mood. Disposable camera's were distributed among the guests along with various tasks and places to get yourselves photographed in during the night. It was things like getting a photo behind the bar, in somebody else's clothes and with celebrity look-alikes (trying to find a David Beckham was not easy...it may have been a bit of a stretch, but in the end that was what made it even funnier). At the end of the night the bridesmaids gathered the camera's and pre-wedding had the photo's developed and a photo album with all the pics made for the bride. So not only was it brilliant fun on the night, but a great memento for the bride to be!

4)Photoshoot fun. I think most brides have various groups of friends coming together for their hen do so I love the idea of doing a hen do photoshoot. It's one of the only times you'll have all your friends together in one place so is the perfect opportunity to capture the moment in film. It's also a fairly inexpensive activity once the cost is distributed amongst everyone so makes for a great way to spend an hour or two and gives everyone a bit of a souvenir of the event.




5)The Theatre. Trying to convince my husband to be to sit through Mama Mia, Dirty Dancing or Legally Blond the Musical, is like trying to get blood from a stone. Where as I don't think I have a single girl friend that wouldn't jump at the idea of seeing Baby carry watermelons or Sophie and Sky sing 'Lay all Your Love on Me'.

6)The Spa. I love the spa and have begged and pleaded for it to be part of the Friday activities at my hen do. I can't imagine anything better then relaxing with some good friends, maybe a bit of champagne, and getting pampered.

7)Cupcakes and Cocktails. It's not something I've done before, but with loads of hen do planners providing cupcakes and cocktails activities, I think it's a fantastic idea. I love cupcakes. I love cocktails. Easy.

8)Scrapbook. We did this for the lovely Vicky's wedding and it was such a sweet and thoughtful gift from everyone who came. At some point or other during the weekend, each guest wrote a message and/or gave a photo to one of the bridesmaids for Vicky. The bridesmaid then made a beautiful scrapbook with all the bride to be's friends and loved ones messages and pictures. Love!

9)Karaoke. Oh yes, the dreaded Karaoke. I happen to love it. Especially after a few long island ice tea's or glasses of vino. When it's just friends it doesn't matter if you try to rap along to eminem or end up singing an uber cheesy lovely song dedicated to your soon to be husband. My only suggestion would be to go to one of the places where you and your party get your very own room. Then not only do you and your friends have complete control over the songlist and microphone, but it makes everyone more at ease.

10)Last but not least, a bit of boogying. I think every hen do should end up with a good bit of dancing the night away. One of the best and well planned bits of the last hen do I went to was reserving an area at the nightclub we went to. I never would have thought it would be so nice to have somewhere to sit a bit and just relax. This is particularly useful if you have a big group. It's not something that I would ever think about when just out with a few friends as you tend to all do the same thing at the same time, but with a big group, some people will be up for dancing hours on end, but others will need a bit of a break. Definitely my number one top tip for a successful night out!

What fun and fantastic things have you done at hen do's? Let me know!

Thanks for reading,
Chelsea
x






Monday 16 April 2012

Dreaming - By Tina Cerruti

I love a good wedding reading, and in the lead up to my big day, one of the things I've really enjoyed doing is having a good read of different styles of romantic and sometimes funny love poems. Every now and then I stumble on one that instantly brings tears to my eyes and makes me go a bit blubbery. Whether it entails lovely dinosaurs, wet towels or just old fashioned love, I just can't help but post about these little poetic gems when I find them. I think all good words are meant for sharing and hope my readers enjoy them as much as I do.

So that I can continue on with my love of sharing all things bright and beautiful in the world of wedding poems and readings, I've also added a page to my site called 'Collection of Readings' (clickable on the menu bar above) so that all my favourites are in one easy and very readable place. Hope you like!

But onto my latest finding. The last stanza (I think stanza is the word....it's been a long time since Grade 12 English!) whilst somewhat expected, still made me catch my breath a little bit and well up just a bit more. Hope you enjoy Dreaming, by Tina Cerruti as much as I do.

I used to dream of eyes so blue
And loving arms to hold me.
I used to dream of heroic knights
And how gracious they would be.

I used to dream of how I wouldn’t settle
For anything less than best.
I used to dream of how he would majestically
Lay all fears to rest.

I used to dream of fairy tales,
How wondrous would they be
I used to dream of story books
All patterned after me.

I used to dream of a lot of things,
But the moment I met you,
I immediately stopped dreaming,
Because all of my dreams came true.




Thanks for reading,
Chelsea
x

Sunday 15 April 2012

Updo, Down-do or Something in Between?

With just over two months to go until my big day, it dawned on me yesterday that it's probably about time I sorted out how I want to wear my hair on quite possibly the most important day of my life to date. Not being much in the way of a hair expert, it's something that I've been quite blase about (it helps that I have complete and utter confidence in the skill level of my brilliant hairstylists). I tend to wear my hair pulled back most days for work and when I go out it's always quite simply done either down and straight or with a bit of curl. So yes, what I'm trying to say is that I'm not much of an experimenter in the world of hair science!

I've seen virtual hairstylists mentioned on sites before and thought I'd try it out to see if I could get any idea's for updo's, down-do's or something in between. In googling virtual hairstylists I came across the wonderful world of Taaz. It's pure and utter brilliance. After registering with some very basic info you're free to unleash yourself into the fabulous (and sometimes hilarious) world of virtual make overs. Unfortunately for my husband to be, it's also meant that I've spent the last couple of hours giving myself looks ranging from Carrie Underwood to 'Vampire-ess' while he's been busy painting the ceiling in the kitchen...oops!

I've definitely come out the other side a bit more informed as to what suits me in terms of hair styles. Weirdly enough, the way I wear my hair nine days out of ten was probably my least favourite, so it's 100% been a good couple of hours spent. It's given me some idea's of what to show my hair stylist and what I'm looking for in my big day do.

To give you an idea of what it's capable of I've saved down some of my fave's from my last couple of hours of experimenting...enjoy!

 I played around with both the make-up and the hair. My one top tip: When you upload a photo, try to get one where your hair doesn't show, otherwise you can get a bit of overlap like in this example.
 I'm now contemplating getting a fringe...kind of love the below style!


I also learnt that if I have an updo, it definitely needs to have pieces that frame my face and not just be pulled back. 
Love the vintage glamour of the below look. It's not something I would ever think to try on myself but seeing it on here makes me love it a little!
 And last but not least, my Twilight 'Vampire-ess' look. Definitely not wedding appropriate but just so funny I had to share!

Thanks for reading,
Chelsea
x