Roman Theme Hen Party
Last June, Sue - the maid of honour, contacted all of Julia's friends and asked if we were interested in helping her put on a hen party Julia would never forget. I was not sure how to help, but I told her I was interested.
Since Julia and Phil's wedding was still three weeks off, four of us got together to discuss plans and make up a guest list. Sue told us she thought a roman feast theme would be a good idea since Maryanne liked the movie “The Gladiator”, especially its star Russell Crowe. We decided it was more important to create a feel of ancient Rome than try to re-create a roman feast in every detail. At first I was skeptical of Sue's plans, which included moving most of the furniture out of her living room and draping the walls with fabric.
The invitations were beautiful. A golden vine and grapes decorated the outside inviting me to be a guest at a roman feast. The details mentioned arriving early, bringing roman attire as well as pyjamas, but little of what else was planned. I could hardly wait.
On the day of the party we each rented roman costumes, brought couch pillows from home and showed up at Sue's two hours before the party to help with the decorations. First the furniture was moved onto the patio and into the den. Pastel fabric was draped over the walls and china cabinet. The pillows were placed on the floor around two coffee tables and all were covered in fabric picked up at a yardage shop's remnant table. That morning, before she left, Sue draped the doorway between the kitchen and living room with a cloth curtain. Flanked it with two rented columns wound artificial ivy she bought at a craft shop around them. Sue had also ordered a few dozen roses for decoration and to use to scatter petals when Maryanne arrived.
The menu was non-roman finger foods, a tray of stuffed grape leaves and Caesar salad Sue ordered from a local caterer. Bottles of red and white wine were poured into glass pitchers. Both would be served by the Russell Crowe look alike Sue had hired. He even came in gladiator costume. By now everyone knew Julia was in for a surprise when she showed up.
While we decorated, Sue was taking Julia out to a beauty salon to get her hair done in roman fashion then on to the costume shop to get her outfit. It was a stunning roman gown of peach coloured chiffon.
All the guests had arrived by the time Julia got there and we greeted her arrival in roman style throwing rose petals at her feet. Julia was thrilled to see us all in costumes and was really surprised at how we transformed Sue's living room into a roman palace. A harpist was playing softly in the corner as Julia took her place at the table's head. She nearly dropped her wine glass when the Russell Crowe look alike came over to fill it, but the best was yet to come.
We ate and chatted for a while until the doorbell rang; it was the evening's entertainment. Sue answered the door and went outside to take the male exotic dancers around through the back door into the kitchen where they could set up their music and begin the show. Sue gave nothing away, making up the excuse of her neighbour needing to look for her cat in her garden.
The harp music stopped and a dance beat emanated from the kitchen. Two of the three male strippers came out first dressed in simple white togas. They danced around us eventually stripping down to their bikini shorts. They both were toned, tan and very, very cute. The third dancer came out dressed in a black toga, a comical mask with goat horns and ivy in his dark hair. He was disguised as the Roman God Bacchus. His music was dreamy, with a sensual beat and he stripped to his bikini shorts before unmasking himself — he was gorgeous!
Sue was busy videotaping the entire display while I snapped photos in between staring at the nearly nude men and dancing with them. Sue and the rest of us kept giving Bacchus tips so he would give Maryanne a special dirty dance. I think he was having as much fun as we were.
After the show we drank some more wine, danced then watched the movies “The Gladiator” and “Ben Hur” until two in the morning. Julia mentioned swearing us all to secrecy about what went on at the party, but at the wedding reception I heard Phil joking about how jealous he was that Julia got a star studded hen party with Russell Crowe and Bacchus ! All the guys did for him was hire a couple of strippers. Poor Phil.
