The Pros and Cons of Professional Hen and Stag Organisers

What are the pros and cons of booking a hen or stag do through a reputable, professional hen party/stag do organiser?

I’ll start with the cons; these are obvious so this won’t take long:

• It may cost more: You can expect to pay 10%+ to have your hen or stag party personally organised, after all, you are paying for a service just like when you book a holiday. You don’t very often get owt for nowt!
• Less control: If you want full hour by hour control over the whole weekend, it’s best you do it yourself.
• Getting a rough deal: Book with the wrong hen or stag company and you could see yourself with a bad deal - grotty accommodation etc.  Make sure you do your research first and test their customer service by asking plenty of questions to see how they cope under the spotlight.

The pros. Well this is easy as this is what I do:

• Almost stress free: A reputable, professional stag/hen company will take the pressure of the organising off the hen party or stag weekend. If I had a pound for every time the delegated organiser in the stag or hen party thanked us for taking the stress off them, I would be writing this from my second home in the Virgin Islands.
• One step ahead: Going to a different town/city can be a little daunting, but taking 12+ disorganised hens or stags with you can be one big headache.  If you book through a professional hen or stag do company you will have a head start. With their expertise, a great itinerary full of fab daytime activities and night time hot spots you will be able to enjoy yourself, shine amongst your group and be at least one step ahead of other DIY groups.
• Hotel sorted: Finding a decent hotel happy to take single sex parties can be like looking for lost treasure. You are not Jack Sparrow so put away your treasure maps and pick up the phone, as most professional party organising companies have thousands of them on their books, and many will have contracts with well known hotel chains such as Marriott, Novotel, Hilton etc, plus lots of smaller privately owned hotels that their scouts have checked out in advance for you.
• Night time bliss: Many self planned groups of stags and hens trail the local night spots trying to get into bars and clubs, not knowing the area, and get turned away because their group is too big, or worse, find when they’ve get in that it’s a dive. By booking through a professional organiser you will not only be able to get in but you will be in a guaranteed hot spot.
• Pay the professionals: Your friends can pay their share directly to the organising company, saving you the hassle of collecting monies in; say no more.
• Email: A professional organiser will email you itinerary details for you to forward to all the girls and guys coming on the do. This will save you answering lots of questions like “where are we staying?”, “what time do I need to be there?” etc.

I could keep going but don’t want to bore you. One of my favourite quotes that best men often use is “organising a stag do is like herding cats!”

So, if you are not a control freak, bride/groomzilla or time rich, do yourself a favour and save yourself the bother of sorting a DIY hen or stag do and call the professionals to get it right.

Article by Hen and Stag Party Organiser Marco Walker

Image from Flickr by Skugga2shadow

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