Bachelorette (Hen’s Night) Party Details

Hello Lovelies!

Hundreds of years ago, a tradition began in Europe where the groomsmen would have a special dinner honoring the groom and his decision to marry.  This evolved into the ladies taking the bride out for one last night to honor her and her decision to marry her husband.  The night is referred to in Europe as a Hen’s Night.  This idea then spread across all countries and progressed into different cultures referring to the event as the following: Bachelorette, Stagette, a Jill Party, Girls Night Out, Hen Do, Kitchen Tea, Last Fling Before the Ring, etc.  In Iceland, it is commonly referred to as a Hen’s Night.  The girls gather to dress up the bride in honor, go out for dinner, conversation, and games.  This is typically planned weeks before your big day and possibly in your home country before coming to Iceland for your destination wedding.  Though, there are though many local bars and restaurants in the Reykjavik area that would welcome you in if you wanted to wait to celebrate your Hen’s Night during your wedding week in Iceland.

Recently, we had the pleasure of designing, planning, and photographing our first Bachelorette party!  Our gorgeous bride and her fiancé are eloping this month in St. Lucia.  We presented 3 awesome ideas to her and she chose our favorite one… “Pedi’s, Pillage & Pasta!”  How fun, right?!

One of the really exciting things about Bachelorette parties is the energy and admiration everyone has for the bride.  Typically, you are within weeks of your wedding date and the anticipation is off the charts.   It is a fabulous day that you can put your destination wedding planning worries to the side and really enjoy time with your lady friends!  When we sat down to plan this pretty little event for our bride, we went in with the intention of this not being a wild or raunchy Bachelorette party, rather one that boasted class, meaning, and memories.  If this idea intrigues you, please read on as we share details on this event and a helpful “how to” as well!

Theme: Pedi’s, Pillage, & Pasta!

Bachelorette Colors: Ombre Pinks with flairs of gold and white.

Timeline of Events:

• Pedi’s from 2-4pm
• Pillage (Bridal Scavenger Hunt) from 4-6:30pm
• Pasta dinner at 6:30pm-?

It was important to our bride that we have a layered event.  That way, a guest could make a portion of the event even if they could not make all three.  Once the manicures and pedicures were complete the ladies began the Pillage event which was in turn a Bachelorette Scavenger Hunt adventure.  Each bachelorette received a pink ombre “LOVE” folded card that opened up to explain the rules and the objective.   Since there were only 7 girls partaking in this portion of the day we decided to keep the group together and focus on the bride.  The rules of the Pillaging Bridal Scavenger Hunt follow below:

Pillage (Bachelorette Scavenger Hunt) Rules:

• Each item is a group goal.
• The bride must be included in every one of these challenges.
• Each Bachelorette guest must accompany the bride on each one of these goals/tasks (IE, get your photo taken with her while completing the dare).
• Note:  At least 1 scavenger hunt item from each category must be completed.
• A minimum of 10 total items (out of the 20) must be completed off of this list.
• If you are unable to find the exact item or location you must come as close as possible to complete the challenge.
• To make the quest more personalized 4 categories were created (there were 5 challenges within each to choose from) that were entitled:

Category 1:  It’s All About the Bride!

Category 2: First Comes Love!

Category 3: Then Comes Marriage!

Category 4: Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

As you see above, the rules outlined that the bride must be involved in each “dare” and photo evidence must be taken to prove the challenge was completed.  For the sake of the time frame we allotted for this portion of the day the girls were to complete 10 of the 20 challenges.  Then at each stop a special themed gift was given to the bride.  The idea behind the gifts was giving her items that centered on elements of marriage.  The list of gifts the ladies gave to the bride follows below:

1. Ball and Chain = Marriage is a TEAM effort, move together.
2. White Elephant = Overcome any obstacle by communicating.
3. Red Rose = Unconditional love.
4. Love Birds = Mates for life.
5. Garter = Never let the honeymoon end!
6. Bridal Emergency Kit = Enough said!
7. “I Do” Shoe Stickers = Traditions, the bride’s something blue.
8. “XO” Bouquet Charm = Love and support of family & friends.
9. Sixpence = A future full of good fortune and prosperity.
10. A letter from each bachelorette for the bride to read during her wedding week in St. Lucia (Many of the ladies could not attend so this was a way to have them be there with the bride on her wedding day).

Once the ladies completed the challenges, the group moved on to the next event of the evening, Pasta!  When the ladies arrived to the restaurant they were immediately greeted by dazzling details.  An easel chalkboard at the entrance way boasted the couples love story timeline.  Alongside of that, was the gift table, complete with a marquise “Love” sign.  When the ladies turned to their right they were in awe by the elaborate long table setup I had created.

The backbone of our table design was the ombre petals we designed into being the table runner.  As you have seen in our previous posts, Flyboy Naturals is one of our favorite wedding vendors to work with so it was a no brainer to commission them again for another spectacular event we were planning.  We used a total of 60 cups (2,500 petals for thick coverage) of freeze dried petals for our 12 person, long table design.  The petal colors used were the following: Iceberg, Bridal Pink, Simplicity Bright Pink, and Super Nova.  This series of colors really made our ombre color scheme come to life as you will see below in the photos.  On top of the petal table runner and also on the top ledge behind the bride, were small gold mint julep cup arrangements that followed suit on the fade from light to dark pink.  But our crowning glory middle centerpiece we are describing as an Ombre Rose Box, was my favorite by far!

As gorgeous as it looks it was super easy too!  Here is the simple how to if you would like to recreate for your own Iceland wedding reception or bachelorette/bridal shower:

Items Needed:

• 10×5’’ Twig flower box.
• Rectangle Oasis fresh flower foam.
• Plastic liner for foam to sit in.
• White matte spray paint.
• (2) Packs of rhinestone adhesive strip stickers in your event colors for accent or plain ones as we did below (found in the scrapbook aisle of most hobby shops).
• Glue (for touch ups).
• 24-28 medium size roses (Ivory, Light Pink, Medium Pink, and Fuchsia).
• Wispy green filler.

Instructions to Create an Ombre Rose Box:

1. Buy or build a small twig flower box (our example was 10×5’’).
2. Spray paint the box a matte white (inside only) and let dry for 12 hours.
3. Apply your rhinestone adhesive strips to the outside of the box.  We chose to do 1 strip on each end and 4 in the middle (Note: Vertical application looks best.  Also, if you plan on making ahead and bringing these to your wedding, apply the jewels after you arrive).
4. Insert your plastic liner and cut the floral foam to fit the inside.
5. Soak the flower foam in distilled water for a minimum of 15 minutes.
6. Add a little water to the plastic insert and then add your soaked foam.
7. Cut your medium roses down to the first stem break and gauge the length of how it will sit in the box.  We preferred ours to have a pretty close fit and only had wispy green light filler on the ends.  Try to only insert once into the floral foam.
8. To create the ombre fade we chose to do 1 row of white roses (4 roses), 2 rows of pale pink (8 roses), 1 of the medium pink (4 roses), and 2 rows of the fuchsia colored (8 roses).
9. At the end we added in the greens on the ends to fill in any side gaps.
10. Finish by spraying the petals lightly with distilled water and store them in a cool dark place until your event date (ideally put together the night before).  Then ta-da, you have a gorgeous elegant centerpiece your guests will swoon over.  Bachelorette/Bridal Shower centerpiece cost was ~$50 USD.

Heightening the theme, I had delicious rose chocolate cupcakes made and placed at each place setting on an individual cupcake stands.  Sitting on top of the cupcakes were handmade jeweled heart banners that had “L + G: Super in Love” printed.  Several other stationary items were at each place setting as well such as matching pink jeweled place cards, favor tags, a “Words to the Bride” card, and a “20 Questions” game sheet all having the same similar emblems.  The party favors for each of the bachelorettes were flip flop bottle openers and pink “Bachelorette Party” coozie’s.  Which in the end, were pretty simple but held meaning by incorporating the tropical destination wedding location of the bride and groom.

Hopefully today you have enjoyed this feature on Bachelorette/Hen’s Party Planning and it has stirred up some ideas for your very own girl’s night out!  Please check out the classy Bachelorette party detail photos below, compliments of Photos by Miss Ann!  In the meantime, Chris and I would love to learn more about your Iceland destination wedding, help you plan, and be your wedding photographers!  Please contact us to get that conversation started!

With a smile, Ann Peters

Iceland Wedding Photographer & Planner

2002-2013, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved.

Bachelorette Party Vendors:

Iceland Wedding Planner (Bachelorette Party Planning, Stationary, and Centerpiece Designs)

Photos by Miss Ann

Flyboy Naturals (Ombre Rose Petals)

Perfect Desserts (Ombre Rose Cupcakes)

AudrianaPaper (Neutral tone cardboard love sign)

Save-On-Crafts (Chair Sashes, LOVE sign, and Easel Chalkboard)

Beau-Coup (Flip Flop Bottle Opener Favors)

Luv Manicures and Pedicures

Johnny Carinos Novi (Reception Location)