Party, Prosecco and Pink Ladies – A Hen do in Manchester

So this weekend I got to join in the celebrations of the gorgeous bride-to-be Kirsty, as we partied all weekend for her hen do in Manchester. The weekend of fun and frivolities started on Friday, straight after work, when we all met at the City Warehouse Apartments – our home for the next 2 days.

With the bride-to-be in the Penthouse Suite, we also took over a few of the rooms on the next floor down – it felt like we were back in Halls of Residence, running between rooms, giggling and sneaking along the corridors. So Friday was about getting to know each other over a drink (or ten!), having a laugh and sharing our memories of of Kirsty and Lee. There were a few silly hen games, an incredibly thoughtful trip down memory-lane courtesy of the bride’s sister Lynsey, and even a special, one-night-only, comeback appearance by none other than the Moggy Mols!

Bubbles were sipped, pizza was quaffed (much needed!) and there was a lot of dancing! Thank you Mr Robin Thicke…hey hey hey!

We woke up on Saturday with slightly sore heads but excited nonetheless for the day ahead of us. After a few glasses of fresh orange juice and some choccie digestives we were good to go! Donning our Pink Ladies gear, we headed into town for lunch followed by a Grease-inspired dance class. Needing to line our stomachs for the night ahead of us, we gobbled-down some much needed burgers and fries (I had ‘The Texan’ – pulled-pork burger with crispy onions and deep-fried jalapenos), had our first cocktail of the day and re-energised at The Hard Rock Cafe. A great choice for 15 hens, needing to replenish their sugar levels and top-up the alcohol already in our system (oops).

Happily full and feeling good, we made our way to Tiger Tiger, where we had a private room to learn our 4-minute dance routine to songs from the Grease soundtrack. And what a laugh it was. An hour and a half later we were Pink Lady pros, ready for our debut on Broadway. Go Greased Lightning! (Kirsty was of course Sandy – and what a marvellous job she did!).

A couple of glasses of Woo Woo later and we successfully completed our routine – with video-documented evidence! Eek!

We made our way back to the apartments for a disco nap (yes, a nap), some more drinkies and a good chin-wag. Then it was time to get glammed-up for dinner and some serious boogying. We had 2-courses of scrummy Italian grub (much needed to line our stomachs) at Giorgios, before heading back to Tiger Tiger, along with every other stag and hen do in Manchester. (I feel I must add in here, that we were the classiest hen do we came across all evening!).

So we head over to our reserved booths (oh yeh, that’s how we roll!), ordered ourselves some giant Martini Glasses full of cocktail and boogied the night away. We even came across some familiar faces and a few friendly stags. What a night! And the best thing about it was that the bride-to-be was having the time of her life.

Needless to say, everyone was feeling a little tender when they woke up on Sunday morning (can’t think why!). So before we all had to head-off on our respective journeys home, we thought we’d finish-off the weekend in style with brunch and cocktails at The Alchemist, New York Street. The perfect place for a classy hen do like us :-). A few bellinis later, we were feeling pretty chirpy and our bride-to-be was back on form. I opted for The American (waffles, bacon, poached egg and maple syrup – perfect hangover cure). Yum! The bride-to-be opted for the Southern Fried Chicken Wrap and Fries.

Then it was time to say our goodbyes, exchange Facebook and Instagram details and wave each other off, knowing that next time we see each other will be at the awesomeness that will be – Kirsty and Lee’s Wedding! Congrats guys, we can’t wait for the big day.

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