The Hen Night of the noughties is going to be a completely different animal to that of the first decade of the new century. Why?

•    Brides are older
•    Pockets are lighter
•    Second marriages are more common
•    Same sex ‘weddings’ are the biggest growth market in the wedding field.

So how do you organise one of the ‘new’ Hen Nights?

First, the traditional Hen Night on the evening before the wedding is dead – anything from two to five weeks before the big day has become standard, to allow everybody time to recover.

Day is the new night – daytime activities have become much more popular, especially with older brides and same sex couples – and a lot of these activities are charity related: sponsored swims and runs etc. If you incorporate a ‘doing good’ component in your ‘feel good’ Hen event, get some printed caps showing the name of the bride and the charity she’s raising money for. You’ll often find you get a lot of public support from passers by which is a lovely way to celebrate. Daytime fun also means that your group doesn’t get too drunk too fast which is good, and allows everybody to get to know each other better.

If you’re organising a pamper day or spa weekend, why not have some personalised items? Personalised bags containing inexpensive supplies of nail varnish, face packs, massage oil etc are fun to share – if you pick a different theme for each bag (hair, feet, fingernails, eyes, lips, legs etc) you can each carry out beauty treatments for the rest of the group.

The drinking part of the party is always fun, but make sure that you carry a fully-charged mobile and everybody has your number – it’s really easy for people to get separated, especially if they’ve had a drink or two and then you have the hassle of tracking them down. One hen party had the organiser’s mobile number embroidered in tiny letters on their celebration t-shirts – it meant that even if somebody got lost (or passed out) the organiser could be contacted.

Where is the recession hitting hardest? Houses, cars and … weddings.

Sad but true. Today’s bride and groom are having to count every penny and weigh every decision – is it best to spend X amount on the wedding or save some money on that expenditure and put it towards a future shared life?

The weekend flights to Berlin: off-road racing; paintballing and visiting lapdancing clubs type stag nights are looking less attractive to the lads, when a coach trip to Blackpool or Brighton, a fish and chip supper and a night touring the clubs can deliver the same adrenaline rush and hangover, for less than half the price.

And for the lasses on a hen night, the three day cruise with a night in Barcelona has given way to the train to town, an afternoon’s spa pampering and a top musical, before dancing the night away.

Many couples are also choosing differently when it comes to their stag and hen night clothing. But it’s a paradox. Where before they used to spend very little and go for throw-away clothing, now they are investing more in good quality T-shirts or even, for winter weddings, top-of-the-line sweatshirts for men, with elegant printing or even an embroidered monogram linking the bride and groom’s initials.

The reason is simple – they want the stag and hen night T-shirts or sweatshirts to be a quality gift and a lasting memento of their great day. And their friends want to keep this clothing to remember the fantastic time they had, even if it was on a budget.

The tabloids have been splashed with shots of Jade Goody and her wedding, including the fact that poor hapless Jack Tweed left the shop label on the sole of his shoes. But it’s not just Jade’s bittersweet ceremony that has been big business. There’s a roaring trade in paparazzi pictures of celebrity brides-to-be, especially if they are wearing kind of  Mrs  Pitt-In-Training T-shirt that, supposedly, Angelina Jolie sent an aide out to buy for her and her friends for her pre-wedding party.

Jack Tweed appeared for the photographers in women’s underwear, as did all his stag night chums, but it’s much more common for stags and hens to both invest in some fun casual clothing for their celebration night or weekend, and it’s the fact that stag and hen events are now much more likely to be weekends than simply evenings out, that’s driving the current craze for funny T-shirts and matching casual wear for the guys and gals who are out on the town.

A hen weekend is the perfect excuse for brides to get together with their oldest friends and long-time gossip partners, but because people live so far apart now, and have often moved away from school and college locations, wedding planning is like organising a major sporting event – you have to pick a weekend everybody is free and can get along, that doesn’t clash with the wedding or celebration of somebody else in your social circle etc. It’s no wonder wedding wear is becoming more of an investment, when you’re putting so much time into make the whole event perfect.

Wedding hoodies, tees, and even underwear can be personalised with the name and wedding role of each participant: ‘Helen – Head Bridesmaid’ for example, or ‘Don – Best Man’s Understudy’ or you can choose to display the name of the bride and groom and their wedding date in an elegant script, or you can pick some jokey slogan to emblazon on the clothing or even a photograph of the bride or groom at their best (or worst) to appear on sweatshirts that will be worn on the party night.

Mums and Dads can be a problem, especially if there are both parents and step-parents to accommodate, and this is one time where personalised casual clothing can really help – giving step-parents a T-shirt that thanks them for their contribution to the family is a lovely gesture and can stop them feeling left out. You can even have tiny tees printed with slogans suitable for the tiniest members of the family so that the baby bridesmaids and page-boys can have their own cute clothing too.