Wednesday 22 April 2020

Virtual Hens

When you are getting married in June and a pandemic breaks out in March and you don't really know what is going to happen as you are juggling a venue and suppliers and invitations and a myriad of other factors it's possible that the hen do(s) could slip through the net - especially if as is usual they are being organised by your Maid of Honour.

Indeed it was only on Friday that my daughter mentioned in our family WhatsApp group that Saturday should have been her family hen do. And because of this she had persuaded her fiancé to do girlie things all day. We added in a few suggestions ourselves - a manicure, facial, massage, cocktails and watching Dirty Dancing all featured in our list of course!

What Rachel didn't know of course was that the Family Hen Do WhatsApp Group had been busily buzzing ever since the days when we were looking forward to a do that would be anything but virtual! I won't mention here what had been planned since the hope is for that to go ahead on a future date. But suffice it to say we were looking forward to it very much indeed and did not want the date - April 18th - to go unmarked by us (even if Rachel and Rory were going to have the time of their lives...)

Plans were made to deliver Afternoon Tea to Rachel and Rory's flat in Croxley Green on the morning  of April 18th. At this point she was added to the WhatsApp group and told to make a bit of an effort at 3pm!

Originally the plan had been for a small group video call, with other friends sending photos of themselves with a glass of fizz and piece of cake to the group. It's hard to work out at what point we opted for a full blown Zoom call but that's how it ended up. Several participants did indeed have their own full Afternoon Tea and of course I had a carbon copy of Rachel's - in the same way that she had "shared" my birthday cake a couple of weeks ago.

Bunting and photo props were included in the surprise delivery along with a bridal veil and sash. At 3pm the call commenced and three hours later the last few slurry speeched ladies were still standing!

The highlight of the afternoon surely had to be the introduction of Deborah to the group. Divine in a blue dress with her blonde locks she made the event truly special.

We ate, we drank - a lot - we played games, we did quizzes. People came and went. Some had limited technology and needed flash cards for the questions. The bridesmaids and the flower girls (but we missed Hannah...) were there along with the Maid of Honour, Mother and Grandmother of the Bride, the Mother of the Groom and many more besides. It was an absolutely memorable event - aside from the fact that the amount of Prosecco consumed "may" make it difficult to remember every detail!

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