February, the month of love might be drawing to a close but the fall-out from all those proposals of marriage, is about to begin. Hands up anyone who’s ever been tasked with organising a stag or hen weekend.
No pressure, the bride or groom announces casually. “Just want something special, memorable, cheap and different to all the other stag/hen weekends we’ve ever been on.”
If you’re stuck for inspiration, why not go back to the actual proposal for some clues about the couple-to-be. For some, of course, it’s a private moment, but for others, the sky’s the limit. Proposals during parachute jumps have been known. Will you marry me has been scrawled in the sand or even cut out in a field of wheat.
One runner buddy proposed to his runner girlfriend at the end of a long and rather elaborate route. When it had finished he showed her the map of their run and it spelled out “marry me?” Another enterprising chap got a photograph taken of his girlfriend sat in the front seat of a roller coaster, with his mates behind her secretly holding up sheets of paper with his proposal and a picture of a ring. One popular guy commandeered about 20 of his mates to stand on a bridge with umbrellas, each bearing a letter spelling out his romantic message.
One of my absolute favourites is reading about a chap whose girlfriend adored Jane Austin books such as Pride and Prejudice. So he got the whole family dressed up in Regency style. When she arrived home, a ‘maid’ opened the door and helped her into a demure dress for the big moment. Classy eh.
All these can be clues to the kind of fun weekend the VIP wants for their stag or hen weekend. If your best pal enjoys dressing up, having fun with their mates over a memorable weekend, then one of our skittles weekends could be the answer to all your prayers..
If the prospective bride or groom has a wide variety of friends and family in their party, then our weekends are perfect for a big age range. They can dip in and out of the skittling, dancing and party atmosphere as much as they like, enjoy the resort and hotel facilities or just enjoy being part of the fun and each having a great weekend that suits them. Plus everyone’s under one roof, meeting up in the bar, for meals and entertainment all at a set price.
If the important person loves a bit of high adrenaline action, our weekends be tailored to include water sports, coasteering, paintball, quad biking. Or if it’s a round of golf that floats your boat, we can organise that too.
Sometimes, proposals really don’t chuck any of the right clues. When my husband Simon proposed to me, he’d actually made me hike up a mountain to a little refreshment hut where he’d arranged a bottle of champagne. Whether he’d forgotten I suffer from vertigo, I will never know. But I was feeling very vertiginous, frightened of falling off the mountain, hot and sweaty, while unbeknownst to me, he was fumbling around for the ring, and persuading the guy in the hut that they didn’t need the beers in the fridge. It was the champers he’d ordered. Well of course I said yes, best decision of my life, and we downed the champagne with gusto and seemed to get back down the mountain at rather breakneck speed.
Whilst chatting to our press officer Jane Blanchard, she revealed that her late husband Iain was a best-selling novelist who wrote romantic fiction under the name of Emma Blair. She said Iain was very romantic and thoughtful in real life but his proposal came out of the blue while they were sitting in the car outside a fish shop. Although she’s a Piscean, she’s pretty sure he never made even that weak connection. That kind of scenario would certainly not have gone down well with his avid readers. Fortunately there is no photographic evidence of this er, event.
So if you’re embroiled in a forthcoming stag or hen weekend in the run up to summer weddings, give us a call for tea, sympathy – and solutions!!
