With the UK hen and stag industry now being worth an estimated £500m a year in the UK, a quiet drink in the pub just doesn’t cut it anymore.
According to a recent survey carried out by Stag Company and Hen Heaven, the cost of a pre-wedding party has risen by 50% in just five years, with the average hen party now reaching £157.
And after my recent hen party experience, I can confirm my average spend was actually triple that, but the real price was the broken friendships left in its wake..
After two years of self-proclaimed bridezilla moments from my soon-to-be-married bestie, I thought nothing could eclipse her demands.
I have been proven wrong.
The latest movement is bridesmaidzillas, and being one of eight hysterical bridesmaids summoned to Ibiza on a recent hen, I experienced this new trend to its fullest.
The hen holiday began with snide digs on who had bought/prepared/planned the most for the hen.
The sly sidling up to the bride soon escalated into who could afford to buy her the most drinks and go on the most expensive excursions.
The hen's wishes- or those pushed onto the hen by the bridesmaidzillas- were sacred. Anyone daring to question the £1k yacht, £400 pool bed or £300 bottle of vodka, was slowly excluded from the crazed hen-ettes.
"I want the hen to have a good time-don't you?" would be the accusation facing any anti-christ (or anti-bride) trying to budget.
I was almost relieved to get back to dreary London to escape the clutch of clucking hens, but no such luck.
Just as I thought I was hen-pecked out, I received a phone call from a disgruntled bridesmaid who had been unable to attend the hen ‘holiday’ and was therefore all the more determined to prove herself.
"You have not rsvp'd to the bridal shower next week but I know you will be coming as it's very important to the bride?" she demands.
Next comes the bridal shower gift list, bridal cake, wedding giftlist, wedding cake.. The list goes on.
Are they proving their friendship status? Perhaps. Does it make them feel closer to being a bride themselves? I'm not sure. Is it teacher's pet syndrome- or hen's chick syndrome. Yes!
But meanwhile my fellow bridesmaids, who I considered best friends, are fast losing their appeal.
It's hen handbags at dawn and mean girls at church.
Apparently weddings bring out the worst in everyone, not just the bride.