A genuine industry has built up around staging stag and hen events. In days gone by, for blokes, it was perfectly acceptable to just go out for a pint with mates and get tied to a lamp post minus your trousers. For women, a spa day with best friends usually hits the mark. Getting married these days is a massive performance in itself, involving enormous feats of organization. If you add to that the stress of orchestrating a fabulous, memorable stag or hen do, you’re making life difficult for yourself.
Many couples are wise enough to delegate the stag and hen organization to their best man and maid of honor, respectively. Although this eases the pressure on you as you wrestle with table plans and menus, dress fittings, and florists, it does mean you have to relinquish control over plans.
Be warned. When you hand decision-making over to friends, they may select a stag or hen activity you hadn’t considered. Ever.
Ceding control of stag and hen event plans is understandable under the circumstances. However, it can sometimes lead to unusual activities being organized…
A growing trend in the field of pre-wedding extravaganzas is that of the total immersion dramatic event. Plunging yourselves into an experience totally removed from reality can be a real buzz – and doing it with your best friends only improves matters.
One of the most successful experiences of this kind is zombie game-like events. Fuelled by the runaway popularity of American TV series such as The Walking Dead and big-budget Hollywood films like World War Z, the current obsession with everything zombie is beginning to influence the type of stag and hen we enjoy.
Many of these zombie events are staged overnight in amazingly realistic locations, with a cast of petrifying zombies on hand to scare you and your mates. The best companies are those run on a military-style basis where you get a briefing at the beginning outlining the scale of the apocalypse facing you, and then you are given a mission to complete. The premium events take place overnight, under the cover of darkness.
Military-style accommodation and instructors with a soldierly bearing dish out orders and objectives, so anyone harboring secret fantasies of being in the army or fighting an Armageddon-style war against the living dead will be thrilled. Of course, the zombies aren’t make things easy for anyone. It all adds up to an adrenaline-filled night of fun and adventure – nothing like any stag or hen you’ve ever attended.
If people at your party aren’t very fit, it doesn’t really matter. Reports from those who have attended these events suggest that the adrenaline gets you through the worst of it – and it’s more about neutralizing the zombies than chasing around too much. Scruffy clothes are recommended because you are very likely to get covered in zombie goo, fake blood, tears (your own!), or worse. That said, you are usually issued with costumes that help you get into character. Helmets, riot gear, shields, gloves, boots, and overalls – depending on the venue and scenario. Once you and your friends are decked out in the right gear, it won’t be long before you are channeling zombie assassins and are up for a fight to remember.
If zombies aren’t your thing and you’re more of a werewolf fan, then there are events to fit the bill. Hardcore survival events where you pit your wits against a pack of horrific werewolves really sort out the heroes and heroines in the party. Failing that, if a deadly virus scenario fires your imagination more, some events enable you to explore those chilling possibilities.
It seems that one of the most incredible bonding experiences is being scared to death with your mates. And if you can do it safely and controlled, the nightmare will be fun. Nobody will get hurt, and everyone will be safe and calm enough to enjoy the forthcoming nuptials. After zombie events, walking down the aisle and getting married will seem like an absolute picnic. So why not drop a few hints in the right ears – the sooner the bookings are made, the better, because zombie events are proving scarily popular.
