Typically, the role of organising the bride or groom to be's last night of debauched freedom will fall to the best man or maid of honour and is no mean feat.
Long gone are the days of a couple of drinks in the local, followed by a night in a cheesy nightclub. These occasions have evolved into overnighters, weekends and even full weeks abroad.
The events of the night can also result in a few blushes come the big day, especially if the best man has an evil streak come speech time.
Here's a quick guide as to how to avoid major embarrassments, and to ensure the bride or groom makes in one piece to the ceremony;
DON'T: Hold the night out too close to the big day. Gone are the days of turning up to the church with a hangover from the night before. A wedding day is always a long one, so an evening out with mates the night before needs to be a calm and civilised one. The stag night, more than the hen is also traditionally a night for practical jokes - not great if held the night before. The bride will not be happy to learn her beloved is currently naked, handcuffed to a sheep and trying to hitchhike back up the M1.
TIP: Leave a minimum of a fortnight and a maximum of two months between the stag/hen night and the big day. This gives plenty of time for hair to grow back, tattoos to be removed and apologies to be made.
DO: Make sure that the Hen and Stag nights for the same couple don't end up in the same place at the same time. Despite the growing popularity of joint "Hag" nights for couples sharing groups of friends - an unintentional meeting could bring tears, fights and cancelled ceremonies.
TIP: The best man and maid of honour should plan ahead to make sure the loved up couple stay that way and don't accidentally find their soon to be other half staggering around a nightclub blindfolded and shouting about being "too young to be tied down".
DON'T: Forget to include ALL family members and friends invited to the wedding unless there is a good reason. This saves on stony silences, heckling and slow claps during the "hilarious" recounting of events and blown up snapshots of the "most fantastic night out ever" in the speeches at the reception.
TIP: If there is good reason for exclusion - keep mum. There was no night out. Just stayed in and got a DVD. Had a bottle of wine. Right?
DO: Choose a suitable activity and venue. A family pub, complete with a bouncy castle and plastic ball pit is probably not the best place to kick the night off at if you're a group of twenty something's liquored up and looking for a very loud and leery night out. Same goes for not choosing to go to Blackpool with full Anne Summers fancy dress if your bride to be would rather just watch a film and maybe sip a wine spritzer, as long as she doesn't get a headache. Choose wisely and well in advance, prime hotels if on an overnighter will get booked up, especially around wedding season, and anything requiring prepaid tickets i.e. concerts, theatre, one off club nights will need to be ordered with plenty of time for delivery or collection.
TIP: Find out what your guest of honour's worst nightmare is, whether it's a gorilla-gram or a night out in drag and steer clear! Try to make it fun and suitable for everyone in the group - no strip clubs if the groom's Reverend father is joining you. Make it fun - remember the objective is to make sure the bride or groom has a night to remember and not one that they necessarily want to forget!
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