the hen night: the end

In my hurry to recap the wedding and be done with it, this little draft fell by the wayside. But it's too good to skip, so I present to you: what Werner was up to while I was dancing, singing, eating, drinking, changing, opening presents, posing and generally acting like a silly hen a block or two away.

At his bachelor's party, each guest was asked to bring a tie they could bear to part with and an amusing or preferably even embarrassing anecdote of life with Werner. As they told their stories and crowned him with ties, they allocated penalty drinks according to how naughty, rude, ridiculous or just plain terrible his behaviour was during the particular incident. Now I love him to pieces and won't have a bad word said against him, but the boy has been up to some pretty dubious activities in his checkered past!

The background on the reoccurant tie-theme is this. Even in his very official office job Werner bluntly refuses to wear a tie. He didn't wear one to his graduation and wasn't planning on wearing one to his wedding. So best man Eben decided to let him have all the ties he couldn't handle for one night. They elegantly combined the tie theme (Tie-ing the knot) with a jailbird look, as is beautifully portrayed in the saying printed on his t-shirt: "Marriage is not a word, it's a sentence: Life without parole." And then best man David brought him a kiddies Superman cloak, just because.

My boy works the look, blue steel style.

My darling sister had also been kind enough, unbeknownst to me, to pass on one of my most beautiful modelling pictures to decorate the back of his shirt.

Thanks, sis.

By 1am or so, we were finally reunited. We were both a little worse for wear, VERY happy to find each other and the co-ed party carried on till four in the morning.

My "I-am-officially-tipsy" pose. A certified units-consumed measuring device.

My girls (minus Vicki, who had to leave for another wedding the next day) and I, one last photo.

And the boys, Eben on the left and Dave on the right. Crazy kids.

I think this pic is the start of "maybe we should start heading home?"

And this one sealed the deal.

Thanks bridal party, we had a rocking good time!

hen night: phase 3

I can't explain these pictures...
I'll let them speak for themselves...

hen night: phase 2

We went to one of my favourite places, Rick's Cafe and I was stoked to find another whole gaggle of girls waiting for us there.

Ilna & Ankia

Angela & Tertia

Claudine & Coco & Me

Ankia & Ansie (my wonderful MIL!)

Vicki & Me

Minki, Margarita & Me

Liezl & Margarita

Sure, they look innocent.

But they're not! Cause then came the part where I had to do ridiculous things I would never normally do.

Like drinking champagne through a penis-straw.

I also had to answer questions about BB and our relationship. If I got it right, I could open a gift. If I got it wrong, I had to perform a task pulled from a hat. Like...

...doing the macarena...

...the can-can...

...and snorting like a pig...

...at least I got loads of luscious lingerie to make up for it!

There was some drinking when I got questions wrong...

At least not only by me...

We laughed, a lot!

And then, just when I thought it was all over and time to relax, a wardrobe change!

hen night: phase 1

I ain't no spring chicken, and even back when I was one, I'd never been the biggest party animal. BB and I both love to socialise and a beer or a g&t is usually welcome, but going big and staying out till sunrise has never been our thing. Most of our closest friends however, reign over the party animal kingdom on a throne made of crazy parties, late night dancing, and unexpected sunlight calling the end to raucous evenings. So I was wondering how the whole hen night / bachelors would work out.

We were a little bit prescriptive about the when and how, as we really wanted as many of our bridal party and other overseas guests as possible to be there, which boiled down to one date only. So we always knew when it was going to happen, one week before the wedding on the Friday night. We also asked very nicely if we could possibly do our separate boy/girl things and then meet up later in the night. Our gracious best men and maid of honour made it so, yay.

It all started out rather innocently. With pizza and champagne and some fab gifts. It was just me, my sister/MOH, my four bridesmaids and honorary guest Angela, who is married to one of BB's best men and has become a really great friend of mine. I was excited and so enjoyed having my best friends in one place all at the same time, I don't think I've ever had that! I was also secretly relieved to still be wearing my own clothing, with just a tiara or two to single us out. I really didn't want to be dressed like an idiot or forced to do stupid things I would never normally do.

Nightingale (real name Minki) me & Angela

 

Bombshell (Liezl) Vicki & Jewel (Margarita)

 

And then I got the cutest gifts...

 

'Just Married' flip-flops that leave a message in the sand

 

 

Iron-on bling for our day-of t-shirts

 

These rings are my favourite. Liezl bought four black ones for each of the maids and an ivory one each for me and my sister to wear on the wedding day. I love love love them!

 

I was feeling all loved, bubbly, happy and calm. It looked like the girls had taken my comfort-loving nature into account and we were really just going to have a pleasant night out, just us. It suited me perfectly.
But then they started acting weird, signalling each other and wolfing down their food, as if we had to be somewhere else. The next moment I was dragged into the bathroom and changed. Into a cleaning lady's outfit.
Sis Ankia & I

 

No, not sexy french maid or anything flattering like that...

 

Just your regular cleaner's uniform! Thanks girls, I owe you...
And then we changed venues!