Natalie Fifield – Hen Weekend February 2019
What? Organisation of a three day hen weekend for 18 ladies at a private venue in Bath, UK, including day activities, all catering and a themed gala evening.
Testimonial:
Charlotte recently organised my hen weekend and from the very start everything she did was incredibly well-thought out. We all received beautiful invitations with pictures of the lovely house in Bath we would be staying in which was unlike your stereotypical ‘bunk-bed’ hen party house. All of us had our own charming themed rooms and throughout our stay it was the little touches she put in place that made the weekend so special – such as our own welcome gifts on our beds at arrival. The invitations contained little hints at the type of activities we might be doing but everything was a surprise and so part of the fun was that throughout the weekend we kept receiving new ‘invites’ to the next activity which added to the excitement. For example, on the first evening as everyone was arriving we received our first invite to the cupcake decorating class we would be attending the next morning. We therefore then spent the first evening making our own chef hats to wear to it! Charlotte provided us with loads of pretty stickers, feathers, gems, pens etc. to decorate the hats with and it was a great ice-breaker activity to complete as people were getting to know one another.
For every meal Charlotte presented us with sweet little menus and, as I am a vegetarian, she had made sure that all the meals throughout the weekend were veggie/vegan friendly. She also ensured that my friends with dietary requirements were provided for e.g. gluten-free options. For the first night we had a veggie spaghetti bolognaise with garlic bread and a vanilla cheesecake for dessert – good comfort food! It was lovely for me to not have to worry about doing anything and feeling pretty pampered as I was basically waited on hand and foot!
After the first evening meal we played a few silly yet classic hen party games in the living room. Charlotte had decorated the whole house before we had arrived with fairy lights/bunting/balloons etc. and in the living room she had strung up photos of my family, friends and me throughout the years which was another cute little touch. Before bed we had a ‘hot chocolate bar’ with our own personalised hen party mugs which everyone got to take home with them as a keepsake.
In the morning we came down to a fully laid-out continental breakfast and Charlotte had arranged for a mini-bus to take us into Bath so that no-one had to drive or fuss around with different taxis. I also had two friends who had been unable to attend the whole weekend who Charlotte had arranged separately with them to meet us in Bath on the Saturday morning. As an aside, in the weeks coming up to the hen party a couple of friends had to drop out and Charlotte dealt with contacting the different companies and informing them of all the changes really smoothly. It meant that I didn’t have to deal with any of the stresses and worries of arranging deposits, emailing people etc.
Wearing our chef hats proudly we went into Bath and the cupcake decorating class we went to was so much fun! The lady who ran it was lovely and showed us different types of icing and different ways to decorate, it was easy enough for everyone to be able to get involved no matter how artistically skilled they were! The best part was that we all ended up decorating six cupcakes each that we got to take home with us…and they really did taste fantastic. The class lasted the whole morning and so afterwards we were taken straight to lunch at The Bath Brew House. Charlotte had arranged for us to have a small function room to ourselves, which she had again decorated beautifully with balloons, we had our own bar and so were handed pink prosecco as we arrived (and were topped up continuously) and proceeded to have the most incredible meal! Charlotte had negotiated with the chef to prepare for us a special off-menu meal and so we had huge sharing platters of amazing vegetarian food to begin before our individually chosen mains. In between courses we played a hilarious Mr and Mrs Game as there was a projector in the function room which was used to play the video answers my fiancé had created.
At the end of lunch we received our second invite to the afternoon spa pamper party! The mini bus took us back to the house where the kitchen had been transformed into our own mini spa. Charlotte had arranged for a local organic company to come in and show us how to make face masks and foot scrubs with natural ingredients, which we subsequently all tried out and had an extremely relaxing afternoon. During this time we received a clue about the evening as a cardboard cut-out of Daniel Craig as James Bond arrived into our private spa! He gave us all another exciting invite to an evening with him… We were temporarily ‘banished’ upstairs to glam ourselves up as the downstairs became secretly transformed. Charlotte provided us with late afternoon snacks and drinks to keep us going and we all had fun getting dressed into our black-tie evening dresses. When we were allowed to come down we walked into a James Bond themed event complete with a red carpet! Charlotte had completely gone to town with the decorations: balloons, backdrops, garlands etc. and the place looked incredible. It was genuinely so much fun as we all felt like Bond girls, dressed up, having a drink and enjoying the activities. As the night began caterers started coming around with gorgeous canapés (my favourite were the fried goat’s cheese balls in honey!) and we had a full three course meal prepared for us which was served whilst we took a break from the activities.
The whole experience ran so smoothly. I never had to worry at any point about anything and all the activities were totally tailored for me and my friends. It was packed full of fun things but we also had time just to relax and spend time together. Charlotte – a huge thank you for the best hen party weekend ever. I wish I could relive it all over again!
