Hen weekend in Chichester!

07.07

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And so the wedding celebrations begin! {p.s. The teapot contained ice for a picnic. I’ve not taken to carrying one around just on the off chance I might fancy a cuppa…}

I remember my early teenage years as being pretty much an endless series of sleepovers. My best friends and I would spend our weekends and holidays hopping between each other’s houses (or rather, being taxi-ed around by our long suffering parents), taking nothing with us but a toothbrush because we knew we’d all wind up raiding one another’s wardrobes anyway. We’d stay up into the early hours of the night talking about everything from boys to whatever gossip was hottest at school to our art GCSE projects, and our days were filled with nonsense like dressing up in the silliest outfits we could concoct (then taking 1001 photos, of course), eating ourselves stupid, and maybe (if we’d manage to wangle it with our parents), heading out to a party armed with a four pack of alcopops to share between us. It was bliss.

And so it turns out, when your best friend organises for you a three day hen weekend sleepover (a bachelorette, for my American readers!) that encompasses everything you loved most about those carefree teenage days, you’re in for a pretty special time!

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All I knew about my hen party was that we were heading down to Chichester on Friday evening, and that we’d spend two nights staying in a little country cottage before heading up to my Mum’s for afternoon tea on the Sunday. My cousin Sophie picked me up a little before 7 after work on Friday, and after getting ourselves so badly lost on the drive that we actually went through the Hindhead tunnel twice and made a brief accidental detour into a caravan park, we finally arrived at Flintstones cottage! We (my sisters-in-law-to-be Nat and Clare, maid of honour Jo, cousin Sophie, and soul sisters Tania and Freya) polished off a few rounds of fajitas, and then got to the main event of the evening. Tequila!

Now, you’ll know that I’m not the biggest fan of alcohol. Sure, I’m happy to indulge in the odd glass of wine or cocktail, but anything beyond that? I’m out. In fact, I’m such a notorious lightweight that Jo came armed with ample suppliers of painkillers (for headaches) and lemonade (for watering down my drinks!)! But do you know what? I’ve finally found my calling- I can handle tequila like a trooper! Salt – tequila – lemon…and not even a shudder! I hope you’re suitably impressed ;)

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We woke up on Saturday morning feeling surprisingly sprightly (after such a late evening of games and silliness the night before!), and even managed to sneak down to visit the ponies and have a wander around the wheat fields before settling in to breakfast.

After a few rounds of toast and croissants, the girls and I suited up in workout gear (Jo requested we all bring with us ‘something we could move in’- intriguing!) and then proceeded to spend the rest of the morning in a state of hysteria. You see, Jo had arranged for a dance teacher called Sarah to come and teach us a routine to ‘Work It’ (a song I once choreographed a dance to for an assembly at our very-Catholic-indeed senior school, not realising that the lyrics are out of this world inappropriate!;), and it was seriously the most brilliantly fun way to spend a morning! Sarah was the sweetest, and we wound up with aching bellies from laughing so hard! Since there’s not a single person on earth who looks attractive whilst photographed midway through performing the running man I’ll save you from the photos, but just know that making up dance routines is most definitely just as fun at 24 as it was at 14!

After giving the performance of our lives for the various people who pottered past our cottage whilst we did one last rendition of our dance routine (they loved it, I could tell), we made a quick change from leggings to dresses, armed ourselves with picnic hampers, and headed off to Priory Park in Chichester.

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Priory Park was beautiful- I’d never visited Chichester before this weekend, and now can’t think why not! After demolishing our picnic (roast chicken, salads, quiche…champagne. You know, the usual Saturday afternoon picnic routine!) we went for a potter around the town centre, and into a vintage and antique fair that tested every ounce of will power I have not to walk away with armfuls of vintage dresses and recovered Scandinavian enamelware. Be still my heart.

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^^ Next stop- cocktail o’clock back at the cottage! ^^

Strawberry daiquiris and mojitos were on the menu for the afternoon, so we set about crushing ice and muddling limes with mint and sugar and adding liberal amounts of rum to strawberries. And we made some good’uns!

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The final surprise of the day was to come via Jo’s laptop. We settled round the dining table to play the Mr and Mrs game, but instead of it being just a regular set of Qs and As, Jo had asked Jason to record himself asking me the questions and then sharing the correct answer instead! It wound up being a pretty emotional afternoon- the ‘what did I say when I asked you to marry me’ question resulted in all 7 of us getting just a *touch* teary-eyed! And when I say a ‘touch’, I mean that *some* of us had to leave the table to go and get supplies of tissues…Clare ;) Can you even imagine how we’ll all be at the wedding?!

The evenings were maybe my favourite part of the weekend. We stayed up late both nights, but on the Saturday evening we stayed bundled up on the sofa talking until almost 3am. Spending quality time with some of my favourite people in the whole world, laughing and drinking tea and snaffling biscuits and putting the world to rights- it did my heart good! In fact, I honestly can’t remember when I last laughed as much as I did this weekend!

Final stop on the hen weekend adventures to come tomorrow- a summer garden tea party!

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25 Comments
Posted in DAY TRIPS, FAMILY, FRIENDS, SUMMER, TRAVEL, WEDDING, WEEKEND BREAK
  • Helen Jacob-Lloyd

    Aww looks like you had a lovely time! *cue an afternoon of going through my hen do photographs* :)

    Helen x

    http://treasureeverymoment01.blogspot.co.uk/

  • https://rhymeandribbons.com Amanda @ Rhyme & Ribbons

    It sounds ideal! How perfect! x

  • http://www.lifeoutsidelondon.co.uk Michelle

    Oh it’s all getting a bit close now huh?
    What a beautiful way to celebrate your hen weekend (tequila aside, that stuff is evil!!)
    M x

  • emily couture

    This sounds like the perfect Hen Weekend :)

    emily xx

    emilycouture95.blogspot.co.uk

  • http://thecourtneydiaries.com Courtney

    Sounds like such a lovely weekend with your friends. Cobgratulations!

    http://thecourtneydiaries.com

  • http://thisparticular.blogspot.co.uk/ Ala

    That sounds like a dream, spending real quality time with the people you love the most! I bet you’re feeling so excited now :D xxx

  • http://Www.courtzmelv.co.uk Courtney Melville

    Sounds like an amazing hen weekend with you’re friends. I’m glad you had a good time and enjoyed yourself! PS. Those strawberry daiquiri’s look so yummy!

    Courtney | http://courtzmelv.com

  • http://en.emoi-emoi.com/ Lauren – émoi émoi

    Sounds like the perfect weekend to me! You must be getting excited now!

  • http://stampplease.blogspot.com/ Camille

    This seems like the perfect weekend with friends. Your friends really put a lot of thought into the planning!

    Silly Medley: Lifestyle and Travel

  • http://www.adashofginger.co.uk Kirsty W

    Ah this sounds like a dream weekend :) also, I just googled the lyrics to Work It and WOAH, totally did not realise how ridiculous the lyrics are haha!

  • http://www.brittonloves.co.uk Lauren S

    Oh this is such a wonderful hen weekend – I hope I can find friends who organise an awesome sleepover like this for my hen!

    Lauren x

    Britton Loves | Lifestyle Food Beauty

  • http://www.melaniefontaine.com/ Melanie Fontaine

    This sound like such a lovely hen weekend! Exactly how I would love to celebrate leaving bachelorettehood behind one day! :) I hope you don’t stress yourself out too much in the last few days before the wedding! :)

  • http://www.mirandasnotebook.com Miranda | Miranda’s Notebook

    What a marvellous hen weekend! Such a lovely way to celebrate and spend time with your friends. Those cocktails look delicious, and what a sweet recording! xxx

  • Polly Cat

    Wow, what a brilliant weekend! So special and one that you’ll definitely remember forever :) The dance routine was such a good idea, bet it was a right laugh haha! Lovely post Rosie x

    Polly Cat Contemplates

  • http://mutedmornings.blogspot.com Mimmi

    Oh, this sounds like a wonderful weekend! You’re lucky to have such loving, amazing friends :)

    xx Mimmi, Muted Mornings

  • http://chambrayandcurls.blogspot.co.uk/ laura chambray and curls

    Oh this sounds so lovely! You must be getting so excited! Be prepared for all the tears- we had a ton of sobbers at the ceremony! I swear, tissues should be in baskets instead of confetti and favours!

    xxx

    Chambray & Curls

  • http://pollyrowan.com/ Polly Rowan

    Aww this sounds so cute! It must be so nice to spend quality time with your favourite people! X

  • CHG

    You sound like you have the best girlfriends ever! I decided not to have anyone throw me a bachelorette party or shower (what we call it in the states), but I’m pretty gung-ho on planning them for friends! I will have to borrow some of these ideas. Congratulations to you!

    http://www.farmbrews.blogspot.com

  • Rachel Elizabeth

    Sounds like the best hen do ever. Given me some idea’s for future maid of honour duties I will have!!!

    http://lifewiththeroofdown.blogspot.co.uk

  • http://anenglishrosie94.blogspot.co.uk/ Rosie McKay

    What a wonderfully organised weekend! It seems your maid of honor really thought about what you would like to do rather than a generic night out!

    Rosie

    x

    http://www.anenglishrosie.blogspot.co.uk

  • http://lizziedailyblog.blogspot.co.uk/ Elizabeth Rebecca

    What a gorgeous weekend – much better than a night out in my opinion.

    Lizzie Dripping

  • http://www.dentonandlou.com/ Denton & Lou

    Hope you had a great weekend! These special times with the ones you love the most are the best part of celebrating a wedding. Enjoy every minute

  • http://www.racheltrieslife.com/ Rachel

    Awww this looks like a fab hen do! Both of my sisters are getting married next year so I’m constantly on the look out for hen do ideas. Love the video Q and A!

    https://www.bloglovin.com/people/racheltrieslife-8883617

  • Emma Murray

    It looked like you had a fantastic time!! Chichester is a lovely part of the world! x

  • https://swanlake1701.wordpress.com/ NGOC LAN

    Wow, you seem to have a great time with your friends. The hen weekend with beloved girls sounds fantastic. Especially I like the Mr and Mrs game.

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