We at Freedom want to make sure that your hen weekend is fun and goes as smoothly as possible. As well as having a huge range of hen night ideas and venues to choose from, we can also give you advice on where to go and what kind of things to expect.

We’ve outlined below a few hen night ideas and links to sites that will further help your hen party be the best it can be and also a little advice of what to do on the hen night and also the big day itself.

Chief Bridesmaid Duties

Organising the Hen Night
As you already know, you have been chosen to make sure the hen night is a huge success, but part of your duties is to make any arrangements necessary, including any bookings, transport or accommodation required, and make sure that all the other girls in the hen party know what the arrangements are.

To make things easier for you, let Freedom take care of all the more stressful arrangements which leaves more time you to concentrate all your energies on the more enjoyable tasks like making sure the hen night has a theme and lots of novelties for the other hens to wear and play with, and this is where the fun begins!

Here are a few websites that can help:

www.sillyjokes.co.uk - More party supplies, dressing up stuff and practical jokes than you can shake a stick at.

www.partybox.co.uk - Hundreds of party products including novelties, wigs, masks and costumes for every kind of celebration.

www.partydomain.co.uk - A large range of Fancy Dress Costumes and Costume Accessories. They sell costumes at all price points from cheap Value Fancy Dress Range through to Deluxe Fancy Dress Costumes.

www.henpartygifts.co.uk - Hen Night Party fashions gifts for you on your hen night out. Party wear ideas including devil horns, party packs, invitations, hen night party t-shirts, sashes, naughty novelties, presents and other stuff

Wedding Day Duties
Being Chief Bridesmaid is not just an opportunity to wear a pretty dress, although that is a bonus, but this is an opportunity to help your best friend have a wonderful day to remember and be by her side. Your role is one of support and may take up a fair amount of your time, so be prepared to be on hand whenever requested (within reason!)

Its usually a good idea that the chief bridesmaid visits the wedding venue before the wedding to familiarise yourself with the layout. Its your responsibility to look after the bride and the bridesmaids on the day, so knowing your way around could become very useful.

www.weddingvenues.com - quickly search all the civil wedding venues in the UK, compare facilities and view photos, request brochures and info from venues.

The Wedding Index - your Elegant, fast & free Wedding Directory

UK-Wedding-Pages.co.uk UK-Wedding-Pages.co.uk.

Helping to choose the bride's dress
The fun of helping to choose the bride’s dress is one of the joys of being chief bridesmaid. Being selected as the one to help and offer advice as she chooses that most important of dresses, also demonstrates great trust. As well as a dress, the bride may want advice on a tiara, veil and jewellery, so make sure you arm yourself with magazines and check the internet for sites like these:

www.youandyourwedding.co.uk - Everything you need to know about weddings, including fashion, beauty, shopping, chats and gifts.

www.dressfinder.com - links to formal dresses and wedding dresses around the world, from exclusive bridal couture houses to popular bridal manufacturers.

www.bridalgems.co.uk - a range of wedding tiaras and jewellery.

www.1stcallforweddings.co.uk - thousands of bargain wedding dresses for sale. Designer samples, new and once worn dresses.

Helping to choose the bridesmaid's dresses
The more bridesmaids there are, the less likely it is that everyone will be happy with the choice of dress. Different sizes, different colourings, different tastes, how can everyone be kept happy? - The bridesmaids should be complementary to the bride and they are not there to steal the show. The colours have to be the bride’s choice and will match the wedding scheme she has in mind and if her taste differs from yours - well just grin and bear it. However, if the bride wants her bridesmaids to be swathed in orange taffeta when they want sleek midnight blue satin - I’m afraid it is orange taffeta every time! As chief bridesmaid, it is your place to gently remind the the other bridesmaids as to whose wedding this is and encourage them to think of the bride’s wishes, and not their own.

Other duties you may have to undertake:

Help write the invitations or help make up the wedding favours

www.world-of-wedding-favours.com - You'll find every kind of favour and bomboniere to compliment your wedding scheme.

www.weddingdesignonline.co.uk - Wedding Design Online Wedding Co-ordinators are a team of dedicated wedding co-ordinators who have over six years experience in guiding brides through the planning process and ensuring a stress free run up to your day

Go with the bride to dress fitting appointments.

Co-ordinate with the bridesmaids and keep them advised

Check what hairstyles the bridesmaids are planning - if they have long hair it looks better if they decide on similar styles

Make sure any hired dresses are to be collected in good time and that arrangements can be made to return them before incurring extra charges

Be available to run last minute errands for the bride

Go to the wedding rehearsals, make sure you are familiar with the order of events and organisation of the bridesmaids

Be there for your friend. It is a very emotionally demanding time, try to soothe her and make her feel better - laughter is great for stress. If she is upset, let her talk through her worries, be a good listener