A review

IT used to be just a few pints down at the local pub the night before the wedding. But these days, hen nights and stag dos are far more extravagant affairs, often lasting days, in different countries or cities.

So it’s unsurprising the average cost of prenuptial celebrations now stands at a massive £551 per person, as revealed in recent research by Egg.

The growing cost is being blamed on people waiting longer until they get married, making them and their friends more likely to have higher salaries to spend on more expensive celebrations.

Here four people reveal what they spent on nights out over the past few weeks in Edinburgh, elsewhere in Scotland, and abroad.

EDINBURGH
SEVEN giggling girls are cruising around Edinburgh in a pink stretch limo on a Saturday afternoon sipping champagne as they serenade a semi-naked man.

It can mean only one thing - marriage.

Francesca Mitchell has flown up to the Scottish capital from London for her hen weekend.

The 25-year-old healthcare assistant, who lives in Barnet, north London, arrived in Edinburgh on Friday for a three-day celebration.

The stretch limo with karaoke and bar was one of the highlights of the weekend for Francesca and her six friends.

But it was pink ladies of a different kind which really ramped up the bill - with cocktails and numerous other drinks making up the bulk of the girls’ spending spree.

Francesca is not surprised by what she spent over the weekend, saying: "I knew it would cost roughly that much and I had budgeted for it.

"We got the flights really cheaply because we booked early. Most of the money went on food and drink, mainly drink!

"The limo was brilliant, it had karaoke and everything. We had a really great time."

After flying home to London, Francesca is now getting ready to jet off for her wedding next month - on a beach in Florida.

Travel £45
Accommodation £113
Food and drink £300
Clothes £100
Activities/extras £16
Francesca’s total: £574

GLASGOW
INDIAN dancing might sound quite exotic. But West Lothian business centre advisor Maggie Mollon only had to venture a few miles from home for her sister’s hen night.

The venue was Ashoka Shak in Glasgow where Maggie and the rest of the 20-strong group spent the night competing against other hen parties in contests such as limbo-ing, Indian dancing, karaoke and the more Scottish sport of drinking.

Staying in Britain slashed the cost of the celebrations, with no flights to pay. Being in a big group also helped keep spending low.

Going out in Glasgow also meant that she was close to home, so there was no hotel bill.

Maggie, who works for Intelligent Finance in Livingston, is single, and lives in Shotts, north Lanarkshire. She says she expected the night earlier this month to be more expensive, adding: "I was quite surprised by how little we spent on drink, but we were constantly up dancing, doing karaoke, limbo dancing . . .

"There were a lot of other hen nights there. It is extremely cheesy but brilliant at the same time."

Her sister, Kate Murphy, 40, who also lives in Shotts, is due to get married in Whitburn next month.

Travel £13
Food £16
Drink £60
Clothes £130
Activities/extras £2.50
Maggie’s total £221.50

AMSTERDAM
A STAG night in Amsterdam involving nine kilt-clad men aged 25 to 35 was always likely to cost a lot in cash and casualties.

So to keep the budget as low as possible, best man Christopher Stones booked flights eight months before the big event.

It paid off for the 31-year-old Edinburgh IT worker, who paid £65 for his air fare - almost half the price quoted to some stag party wannabes.

Other cost-cutting measures had their drawbacks though.

The stag, Christopher’s younger brother Martin, 27, and the rest of the group bought very early-morning flights to Amsterdam from Leeds, where Martin lives, leaving them flagging slightly on the first day.

The price of a pint in the Dam was also higher than the party had expected, so in the true spirit of the occasion the lads decided to forego food and spend almost every euro they had on beer.

Christopher, who works for HBoS and lives in Dalgety Bay, Fife, says:

"Only three out of nine of us made it into work on the Monday. No-one ended up in jail though, we all got home again and it was a really good laugh, which was the plan."

He adds: "I’m not surprised by how much I spent. We paid for the flights and hotels up front so it was not so bad on the weekend itself."

The stag weekend took place last month, giving the group plenty of time to recover for Christopher’s brother’s wedding, which is due to take place in St Andrews on Saturday.

Travel £95
Accommodation £75
Food £15
Drink £150
Clothes £40
Christopher’s total £375

GALWAY
IT’S not just cigarettes which are forbidden in Irish pubs these days. Bunny outfits are banned too, in Galway at least, because they encourage men to "behave badly".

But that didn’t stop Edinburgh financial team leader Vanessa Testa having a blast - and spending a small fortune - on her best friend’s hen night in the Irish city last weekend.

She says: "We had bought bunny ears and bunny tails but the pubs wouldn’t let us in unless we took them off.

"We were quite disappointed because we had gone to all the hassle of getting them. But it didn’t really dampen our spirits. We arrived on Friday and went straight out for a meal and drinks.

"On the Saturday it was raining so we went on a bus tour and then we went for lunch, and that’s when the drinking started again."

Vanessa, of Leith, who is single and works for Intelligent Finance, splashed out some £130 on new outfits and make-up for the hen weekend.

Of the bill, she says: "It was really good but I certainly didn’t expect to spend that much in two days."

Hen Annette Helberg, 34, who also lives in Edinburgh, is getting married at Lennoxlove, near Haddington, next month when Vanessa will be her bridesmaid.

Travel £135
Accommodation £56
Food £80
Drink £140
Clothes £130
Activities/Extras £32
Vanessa’s total £573

'We decided to handcuff the groom to a sheep'

LINDA WRIGHT, 26, bank manager, from Holyrood

Linda ditched her formal suit for a high-octane hen night in Newcastle last weekend.

The 19-strong group donned identical aqua blue outfits, with the bride adding flashing men’s plastic genitals. The evening began with a Chinese banquet then it was on to the infamous Buffalo Joe’s where the bride ended up in cage with a pair of cowboys.

JO HENDERSON, 25, PR executive, from Merchiston

"When my friend Lindsay was getting married two years ago, we chose to have a relaxed, low-key hen night," says Jo.

"We rented cottages by Loch Lomond and 30 of us spent the weekend chilling out, pampering ourselves, getting glammed up, going out for meals and going clubbing."

KRIS YULE, 30, advertising executive, from Newhaven

Kris attended a friend’s stag party in the Borders where Elvis was the theme - and the dress code.

The group, all keen skydivers, stayed in one of The Borders Parachute Club’s cabins.

Kris says: "After several tequilas we decided to shave half of the groom’s body hair, drive him into a field and handcuff him to a sheep."

JACQUELINE COOPER, 23, advertising executive, from Dunfermline

"We were at a local pub in Paisley for my sister-in-law’s hen night. We had a stripper and he’d been putting on baby oil - and I slipped on it.

"Everyone just laughed - I put on a bandage on it and we just carried on. But I had actually broken my arm."

COLIN GALLACHER, 29, IT worker, from Livingston

"We went down to Newcastle for my friend Peter Marshall’s stag weekend a couple of years ago. We made him wear a purple thong all weekend.

"On the way back, we stripped him down to his thong and wrote on his back in permanent marker: ‘Thanks for last night, you were the best I’ve ever had’. Then we dumped him on the A1 . . ."