Hen Weekend - Part 1

Following my hair and make-up trials last Friday, I went back home to pack for my hen weekend and to get ready for the evening ahead so that we didn't have to change when we arrived where we were going to be staying. I should note that all I knew at this point was that we were staying somewhere for 2 nights; going out in Edinburgh on the Friday night and staying in on the Saturday night.

I had started thinking a while ago about what I wanted to wear each night and, as per most of my going out wardrobe, I went to Coast knowing I would be able to find some fabulous pieces! I got a purple strapless dress and a gorgeous black pencil skirt in the sales in January which I was all set on wearing on the Friday then the Saturday respectively. I started to change my mind about the strapless dress for going out in Edinburgh as to me it felt a bit wedding guesty and I wasn't sure how comfortable I would feel all evening. So even though I still liked the dress, I returned it and got a gorgeous turquoise dress, also from Coast, that I saw on this post on Rock My Wedding. {Randomly, I saw the dress i returned again in Frasers even cheaper so I bought it again to take on honeymoon!} I had a couple of ideas of what top to wear with the skirt for the Saturday evening but when my bridesmaids saw I had a turquoise dress for the Friday, they informed me that I actually had to wear black and purple. So no problem, I just swapped the outfits around and found a purple top, again from Coast, to wear with the skirt on the Friday night.

So after getting dressed in my new top and skirt and with my case all packed, my dad picked me up and after getting my sister and 2 friends, we headed to where we were staying. After quite a long drive in the rush hour Edinburgh traffic, we headed along the A7 past Newtongrange and pulled up at a lovely country mansion. The place was called Kirkhill Mansion and we were the only group staying there that night in 7 rooms since there were 14 of us in total.

Kirkhill Mansion

After dropping of our stuff in the rooms, we had a drinks & nibbles reception, while my bridesmaids decorated me with the usual hen night paraphernalia! It kind of ruined my hair style but did have to be done!

Of course my bridesmaids had to join me with silly things on their heads too. We got a few more pics of everyone {minus mum who was helping dad look after my nephew and who met us at the restaurant} before we all piled into the minibus to be taken into Edinburgh.

Me & all of my bridesmaids then Everyone; loving all the purple!

They took me to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, where we also met up with mum and another 7 people who were joining us just for Friday evening, including my flowergirl Georgia who was just coming for dinner with her mum. Dinner was lovely, plenty of cocktails and wine flowing too!

Me & my flowergirl Georgia with her mum on the right.

After dinner we went to Electric Circus, which is a club that also has private karaoke rooms to hire. We had a massive room for 2 hours and we sung our hearts out and danced away! We then went into the main club to continue the dancing until home time.

That's my mum, aunt & bridesmaid Lucy's mum on the left, who had to be the first to sing! Despite the fact that I cant sing, I look like I'm getting quite into it!

No idea what we are all singing in each picture but there were some delights like Empire State of Mind {so hard to sign Alicia}, Cant Fight the Moonlight & Don't Stop Believing. That's Graham's mum in the left picture too.

During this time I also had to complete some dares including the usual, get a drink, get some guys boxers and get guys to eat sweets of my necklace etc! It was a fab night and lets just say I was a little worse for wear when the minibus arrived at 2am to take us back to the house. Some of my bridesmaids were up until 6am but I could only make it until 3.30am!

I have no clue what I'm doing or where I'm trying to go in the picture on the right! I love how in all the pictures you just see random boppers everywhere from one of my bridesmaids!

One of my dares; I made sure I dragged at least 1 bridesmaid on each one for help!

All of my bridesmaids did a brilliant job of organising everything and I was completely spoilt all night with food & lots of drinks which kept appearing in my hand {which is my excuse for being so drunk!} I had such a great night and there was lots more in store for the Saturday, starting with an early trip to the seamstress for the bridesmaids final dress fittings.

Part 2 about the Saturday, will follow!

All of the pictures are my own or my bridesmaids, except for the 4 Electric Circus ones at the bottom, which came from here. They had a photographer taking pictures of everyone all night!