6 Minute English ’10 – Hen and stag parties

Yvonne: Welcome to 6 Minute English! I’m Yvonne Archer – and Kate, thanks for joining me today.
Kate: You’re welcome, Yvonne!
Yvonne: Now, as the wedding season comes to an end, many newly-weds – people who just got married – will be thinking about money. So, as well as the money they received as gifts, they’ll be thinking about how to pay back all the money they probably borrowed. Kate, how much money do you think most people spend on a wedding?
Kate: Umm – well I’ve heard that it’s even up to about £20,000.
Yvonne: Well, the average cost has gone up so a wedding this year is actually over £21,000 Kate: Wow – that’s just so much money!
Yvonne: But weddings aren’t only expensive for the bride and groom – the man and woman who get married; their guests often have to spend quite a lot too. And that leads us to today’s question. Kate, on average, how much money does a guest spend to go to a friend’s wedding? Is it…
a: £120
b: £240 or
c: £380
Kate: Oh, that’s a really good question because the weddings that I’ve been to, I’ve always ended up spending loads of money. So I’m going to go for b) £380.
Yvonne: Okay, we’ll find out whether you’re right later on.
So, apart from a gift, something to wear, travelling to the wedding and perhaps accommodation – somewhere to stay – wedding guests often spend money on ‘a stag night’ or ‘a hen night’. But what are they? Kate, can you explain them for us, please?
Kate: Well, ‘a stag night’ is an opportunity for the man and his male friends to have a party for the last time before he gets married. The woman has ‘a hen party’ with all her female friends for the same reason. And sometimes at a stag night or at a hen night, people do things that they probably won’t do once they’re married.
Yvonne: Yes – and we’ll leave it there, shall we?! Now those events are sometimes called ‘a stag do’ and ‘a hen do’, because the party often lasts for more than one evening.
Our colleague Emily is getting married soon and she told me that for her hen party, she’s simply going out for a nice meal. But, that’s not typical – it’s not what people usually do – as Emily explains. As we hear from her, who does she say is ‘the hen’, and what does the hen usually wear?
Emily
It usually involves a lot of drinking. The hen, i.e. the bride, will usually wear like a pretend veil and maybe some L plates, like on a car – you know, she’s not quite married yet. And they sometimes wear silly outfits and things but generally, they go to have a good time. They might go to a club or to a restaurant.
Yvonne: So, a typical hen do might take place in a club – a night club – or in a restaurant, and it ‘usually involves a lot of drinking’ – so the women usually drink a lot of alcohol. But, who is ‘the hen’ and what does she wear at her hen do? Kate?
Kate: Well, ‘the hen’ is the bride – or the bride-to-be, so the woman who’s getting married. And she usually wears ‘a pretend veil’ – as Emily put it. That’s a bride’s veil which isn’t real. It’s usually much smaller and shorter than the veil that brides wear on their wedding day.
Yvonne: And what about the ‘L’ plates? What’s that about?
Kate: Oh no – well those are large, red ‘L’s- or the letter ‘L’ – or ‘L’ plates – which are put on a car to show that the person is still only learning to drive – so it’s not legal for them to drive yet. So, the hen’s friends make her wear ‘L’ plates to show that she’s not legally married yet.
Yvonne: Emily also said the hen sometimes wears a silly outfit – clothes that make people smile or laugh. And of course, the stag – the man who’s getting married – might also have to wear a silly outfit for his stag do. But let’s hear from Ben who got married in 2004, but he hasn’t forgotten his stag do. It lasted a whole weekend but what did he choose to do?
Ben
The culture at the moment seems to be getting on a plane and going to Eastern Europe and doing lots of drinking. But I didn’t really fancy that; I wanted to do something outdoors and get very wet and cold and sleep in a barn with no heating – because that’s the sort of thing that sounds like fun to me!
Yvonne: Ben thinks that ‘the culture at the moment’ – the thing that lots of men do – is to fly to Eastern Europe for a stag weekend and drink lots of alcohol. But as Ben says, he didn’t ‘fancy’ that – he didn’t want to do that. So Kate, what did Ben do for his stag do?
Kate: Well, he wanted to do something outdoors – something that didn’t take place inside a building. So Ben and his friends got very cold and wet – and then they slept in ‘a barn’ without any heating –and that’s a building that’s made for animals to sleep in.
Yvonne: But for Ben, that sounded like fun!Well, it’s time now for the answer to today’s question. Kate, I asked: on average, how much money does a guest spend to go to a friend’s wedding?
Kate: And I said it was b) – £240.
Yvonne: It’s more – it’s actually £380.
Kate: Wow – that’s so much money. Gosh!
Yvonne: Hmm – it is. Well that’s all for today’s 6 Minute English – but do join us again soon.