Hen's Night Recap - The Finale

Read about the first part here!

After all our wonderful activities (and food!) at the Soho Hen's Wonderland, we ladies who decided to party on (those with young kiddies or baby bumps decided to head home!) jumped back on the train and headed to the Rocks at Circular Quay. Now if you remember from our engagement story, the fiance and I got engaged at the Rocks. In FACT, the Argyle, where we were headed, was right near where this whole thing started. So of course, we had to stop for some pictures...

We made it to the Argyle and got in without hassle, however they don't allow in Hen's or Buck's parties :( Because we weren't trashed (or trashy!) they let us in, but I had to check my feather boa and sash at the door. Sad! Little did they know though...I still had my shot glass and a purse full of feathers! Little rebel, I know...I was still a Hen, even if I had to be in secret!

The Argyle have the most AMAZING cocktail called "The Roxbury". We are going to attempt to re-create it at home one day, and I promise pictures and a recipe if we succeed!

I managed to get my hands on my little SIL-to-Be's camera yesterday and steal her photos...there are many entertaining ones of the night! (Most of which are NOT going to be shared. haha) Below are a mix from her camera and my friend Shelly's, of our time at the Argyle, drinking and dancing. We had a blast, chatting, chilling and "people-watching". When we got up to dance at the end of the night, we even had a guy rock and roll dance with us all, swing style...til his hands got a little grabby anyway...

After we all wore ourselves out (and we'd been partying for about 8 hours or so by this point) we said our good byes and started heading our separate ways...some were being collected by partners, some lived local and were catching cabs and some of us jumped back on the train for the trip home. We took quick night time snaps of the Bridge...

Played around with feathers...

And lost our mojo...

The fiance was lovely enough to collect my SIL and I at the station and drive us home. I happily left a bunch of feathers in his car also. As my MOH said - it was a Hen's Night "Hansel and Gretel" trail!!

I had such a fantastic night and cannot thank my wonderful bridal party enough, in particular the gorgeous MOH, Annie. And of course, their "helpers" and City direction-givers, our friends Erin and Amy (who consequently saw "Naked Man" a few days later, fully dressed and on George Street. Haha). We had such a great time that I am looking forward to our reception SO much with all these great friends around us. I can only hope my fiance has such a great time on his Buck's Weekend! :)

I'd love to hear about everyone else's Hen's/Bachelourette experience! Was yours just as memorable?

Hen's Night Recap

It's taken me a while to get this up but when you see the photos ... it may give you an idea why. I purposely did not take a camera along and I only took three photos on my phone all night - one of my drink at the Argyle, one of the Opera House RIGHT at the end of the night on our way home, and one when I got home that the fiance took of me in my sash, before I got changed into my comfy PJ's! I was entirely relying on everyone else for photos of the evening. So not only was I sifting through photos as they came in but BOY, did they come in! And I know for a fact that the collection I have on my computer isn't even all of them because my bridesmaid Romana hasn't had a chance to upload hers, my SIL Alicia has a whole bunch from the Argyle (most of which are crazy anyway and probably not blog worthy!) and my cousin has a good few on her camera as well! So I'm looking forward to stealing a good few more!

But anyway! My point is this - while I will try and squeeze this recap into one post, if I think it's getting excessively long (and I think it will...) I might cut it into two parts...so please forgive me! But I hope you enjoy. And as a precursor:

WARNING: THIS POST MAY INVOLVE SOME MINOR MALE NUDITY. If this offends you, please do not read past this point. I promise you no full frontal...but I think there might be a butt shot? Just a heads up! I tried to mostly include towel shots!

Now! Onto the recap!

Invite made by this crazy lady ^^ Appropriate colours, no? :)

GETTING THERE

Many of us met up at a local train station to travel into the City together. It was highly entertaining, particularly since we were all dressed up quite early in the afternoon (the Hen's Wonderland actually began at 4:30 in the afternoon, so we met up at 2:50! Quite early to be so fancily dressed!). I'm sure it was entertaining for our fellow passengers. During the trip, I was decked out in appropriate Bride-to-Be garb :) The girls happily stuck to the "No Penises Allowed" rules...I was very thankful...And I LOVED my feather boa!

ARRIVAL
After getting out of the station at Kings Cross (leaving a trail of feathers everywhere we went) and being greeted by a freezing wind (thanks!) we eventually made it without much fuss at the Soho Bar and were greeted with a gorgeous entry and waiting Piccadilly Lounge and free champagne on arrival. The dark room means not the best photos, but trust me, it was gorgeous! Mirrored ceiling too...as the girls were excited about haha. We took the chance for an almost complete group shot. (Oh and met our hostess, Christine, in the bathroom!)

LIFE DRAWING
After a brief explanation of what would be occurring, the 6 Hen's Groups that were there were separate into 3 groups, meaning that for each activity we were paired up with another group. However, for the most part we were pretty separate in each room. The group that we were paired with was smaller then our group, however definitely made up for that in enthusiasm! Our first activity for the evening was Life Drawing and we heading to the Aviary. Here, everyone took a seat and was handed a pad and pencil, only for the Brides to be called up to "assist" the model to set up for his first pose.

Dum dum dum...

You can pretty much see my reaction to that below. While I'm quite happy to take an art lesson...I'm not so keen to have a naked man all up in my space. The other Bride though? She was all for it. I pretty much let her have that one and headed back to my seat, despite the offer of a "Re-Do". All good thanks, she can have that one...(I'm so glad they handed up free champagne first!)

The rest of the Life Drawing was a lot of fun, although I think the staff thought I was a spoil sport because I turned down the offer of posing with the model (again, not really wanted naked man's junk all up in my personal space, thanks!) which I think he was offended by. Like, they made a big deal out of it but seriously - it can't be the first time a Bride-to-Be has said no...get over it...we enjoyed the rest of the time, leave it at that! (the other Bride jumped at the chance...and her friends even had a cut out mask of her fiance's face for the model to wear. Which I thought was slightly...odd...and creepy...but each to their own!)

For the last (3rd) drawing/pose we did, we got two switch places 3 times, so that we actually did a "communal" drawing, and 3 people actually added to the drawing. It was interesting to see how they turned out! We (read: I!) got to take home all of the drawings, and it was quite a giggle to go through them the next day! We also got to have a group shot with the model at the end. We got him to cover up so that they were appropriate to show after (again, think we offended him...?) The other group opted for nudity and ended up with a naked man in their naps. And we have photographic proof of that too (although I'll spare you from that one!)

Bridal Party Shot

Group Shot

BURLESQUE CLASS

After Life Drawing we headed to what was probably my favourite class - Burlesque! A handful of my girlies are ex-dancers and it made us giggle the moment we entered the class and the instructor decided to take some group shots for us. Everyone was having a bit of a chat and all we heard was, "Girl. GIRLS! Well. If you aren't going to pay attention then this is just a waste of your time." My oh my did it take us all back to our younger dancing days...

We had a blast in Burlesque. Myself and the other Bride got pulled to the front so I only managed to catch little snippets of the girls dancing when I turned around but it looked like everyone had fun! We learnt a little short routine to Pussy Cat Doll's "Don'cha" then a longer routine to "Moulin Rouge". The longer routine entailed us pretending we were dancing inside a bubbling glass of champagne at one point, so the pictures where our legs are flapping around? Yep, pretend that we're elegantly splashing bubbles, will you please? hehe

There were many giggling moments in these classes and lots of chances for group shots, thanks to the instructor (who, despite her cranky dance teacher moments, really was lovely!). I really think this was my favourite class!

SOME GROUP SHOTS:

Cocktail Making

Our class class of the evening was Cocktail Making! We arrived downstairs in the Bar area and were greeted by our instructor (this time we had two separate instructors on either side of the bar...ours had awesome silver sequin pants on :) She was cool). We were told we would be making one of my favourite cocktails - Mojitos! Whoo! I was quite excited. Rather then making them with a traditional simple syrup though, we made them with brown sugar and muddled mint. It gave it a slightly different taste but was still delicious and good to know for those times when you can't be bothered to make up simple syrup (or don't have any to hand!)

Cocktail Making didn't take as long as the other classes and we had time to stand around and enjoy our cocktails and chat, and take plenty of piccies in the cool room! Below are some with my besties, and my sisters - old and new (or soon-to-be I should say!)

And one of my favourite images of the night:

After the classes finished, we were taken to one of the Deco Lounges for food, which we have no pictures of because we were too busy stuffing our faces...but trust me, it was delish! We had the yummiest pizzas and awesome sushi. While we were munching, these three lovely ladies stole away to hold our table at the Argyle at the Rocks in Circular Quay.

Annnnnnd...I think that's probably a good stopping place for now. Phew. A little more tomorrow! It was such a fantastic night! :)

upcoming hen's night!

Last week I received my invite to my upcoming Hen's Night! (aka Bachelorette) Up until then, my MOH and bridesmaids had kept the night a closely guarded secret, but my MOH felt it was time to spill the beans (or most of them!) so that I could know what to wear, etc. She had cleverly created an actual Facebook ACCOUNT (as opposed to an event) on Facebook to hold discussions with those involved, so that there was no way I could accidentally stumble on information - you couldn't access anything without being a friend! I did see it in my "recommended friends" list at one point and thought it was an Event (and didn't click - I was so proud of my self restraint!) but as it turns out, even if I did I would have seen nadda!

I have still kept myself somewhat in the dark, which my lovely MOH had recommended if I wanted to be surprised still - although my invite informs me where we are headed, I have refrained from looking up the venue or requesting the Hen's Night Friend (haha that sounds strange) on Facebook, where Annie has popped up some professionally taken photos of the venue, etc., which she says looks fantastic! I'm going to keep that element of surprise for when we arrive! But without further ado, here are my gorgeous invites that my lovely MOH worked hard on!

Some details have been removed for obvious privacy reasons!
As you can see from the invites, this means that my Hen's Wonderland is - TOMORROW!

I'm so excited and cannot wait to celebrate with the girls. A little apprehensive about how we are going to go drawing a naked man but hey - I'm sure if nothing else it will be fun, break the ice and entail lots of giggles...I sure as hell can't draw so maybe I'll be making the MOH draw mine... (she's an art teacher!!)

I've got my dress all lined up (as well as some black tights and a coat to take while traveling - it's still winter here!), I'm going to wear the "First Dance" from my Essie Bridal Collection on my nails AND I bought new eyeliner and mascara for the wedding which I plan to trial tomorrow night. I cannot wait. I promise a recap sometime next week (maybe after recovering...I'm such a Nanna these days!) I also promise it won't be as long as the Kitchen Tea Recaps. Til then - I'm off for some sleep! I think I might need it!