We all know plenty of ladies who wear the trousers in a relationship, the ones who run the show, who dictate the state of affairs. Maybe this applies to you! If it does, there’s added incentive to enter this one. Whilst the winning bloke will get to go on a lads’ Newcastle stag do-styled weekend away, his partner will be whisked away for a spa-tastic time in the style of a Bristol hen weekend. So not only do you get a few days away from each other but you get the best deal with plenty of pampering. Result! Oh, and the man gets to keep this little beauty:

How to Enter

To put forward your nominations, send an email to underthethumb@zootoday.com telling us why you think your chosen candidate should win a trip to Newcastle and be crowned Britain’s Most Under The Thumb Man 2012! And if that man just happens to be your partner, you’ll be heading off on an all-expenses paid spa weekend to Bristol. Good luck!

Four Signs Your Chosen Man Might Be Under the Thumb

• He needs to ask permission to go down the pub.
• He’s seen more than one of the Twilight films at the cinema.
• He leaves the room when he has to pass wind.
• His friends are magically replaced by the girl’s friends.

Hen Heaven End of Year Awards

Celebrity Hen Party of the Year

Winner: Kate Moss

You’ve got to hand it to Kate Moss, when it came to the hen party, she didn’t muck around, heading off on (on last count) three weekends of boozy fun, first at Glastonbury to watch her now-husband Jamie play with his band, The Kills, before luxury trips around Paris and on a London hen night with her girlfriends. Thumbs up, Miss Moss.

Weirdest Wedding of the Year

Winner: Renee Armstrong

We told you about this one back in the summer, Renee Armstrong got to be the chief bridesmaid of her best friend Jamie Wilborn’s wedding while still keeping thousands of miles between them. Appearing on webcam throughout the service in America, Renee got to see her best friend exchange vows while dabbing at her eyes for tears on an iPad screen. Only in America.

Most On/Off Couple of the Year

Winners: Mark and Lauren (TOWIE)

An absolute no contest, this one. You could fill a thousand novels with the sheer number of words that have been dedicated to this relationship in glossy magazines and tabloid newspapers over the past 12 months. We think they’re sort-of/kind-of back together now (at the time of writing).

Proposal of the Year

Got to be the flashmob London tube proposal as featured in this ‘ere blog a few months back. Here it is again, if you haven’t seen it:

Shortest Wedding of the Year

Winner: Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries.

Another no contest, the wedding lasted a frankly embarrassing 72 days before Kardashian filed for divorce. It has since been alleged that the wedding was a publicity stunt and that the reality TV star never got over her ex-boyfriend Reggie Bush.

Film of the Year

A modern comedy classic, Bridesmaids has packed out multiplexes and flown off the shelves at DVD retailers in the past 12 months. Including some of the best gross-out slapstick you’ll ever see and one of the smartest, sassiest scripts of recent times and you’ve got yourself Hen Heaven‘s film of the year.

A Liverpool man has been found guilty of arson after setting fire to the castle that was the venue for his wedding. Peckforton Castle in Chester had to be evacuated after the row over the drinks bill that led to the wing of the building catching ablaze at Kay’s hands. The property developer denied a count of arson with intent to destroy or damage property and endanger life. The damage to the castle equated to £6million worth according to the prosecuting lawyer Duncan Bould, who also said:

“There were a large number of guests staying that night. Fortunately, the premises was equipped with an efficient fire alarm and the combination of that and the staff meant that all the guests were able to be evacuated.”

Patrick Thompson, defending Max Kay said in the Hunts Cross man’s defence:

“He has gone through great personal strain. He was made bankrupt and had various difficulties going on in his life.”

Kay was captured on CCTV making his way into the drawing room (it doesn’t say whether he had a can of gas and a pack of matches) where the fire reportedly started. The judge Roger Dutton sympathised with the groom but that sympathy only went so far:

“Not many people set fire to the place where it takes place.”

And he warned Kay: “I have to tell you, so you understand, that it’s inevitable in my judgement that you will go to custody when sentenced. This is an extremely serious matter.”

There will now be a psychiatric report into the man’s mental state before sentencing is carried out.

Quite unpleasant business, in happier news our brother site, The Stag Company has launched a brand spanking new website which you should all get over to at your earliest convenience – don’t forget to pass it onto the best man for your wedding to put together something special for the stag do.

These will take some beating:

or this one:

But NOT like this one:

Got it? Good. Remember to email into mark.booth@henheaven.co.uk to be in with a chance of winning a discount code for our hen weekends.

Hula Hooping is not just an activity for kids – it’s always been a fun activity that brings people of all ages together, and is a great way to stay in shape. In recent years, it’s become so popular as a fitness activity that many gyms have begun offering hula workshops; In many of London’s parks, you’ll also find regular hoop groups that are very welcoming to newcomers.

To get started in hooping, we recommend you buy a good quality hula hoop, and begin a course or tutorial session in hula hooping – it might seem easy to get started and do it your own, but experts warn that to get the full fitness benefit of this activity, hoopers need the correct training. Once you have the basics learned, it’s easy to quickly move on to tricks – hooping from your legs, arms, or even neck!

The numbers – a properly trained hooper can expect to burn around 300 calories for every 30 minute session – that’s a Jaffa cake every five minutes! A recent study of hula hooping by the American centre of exercise suggested that it should be considered a total-body workout – not bad for something that we all loved as kids!

Another reason hula hooping is a great activity is because it’s very social – you can do it with your workmates during lunch; with friends on the weekend; or even at birthday or hen parties! As the beginning of a big night out, a hula hooping hen party is a great idea – it gets everyone warmed up, and, more importantly, means you don’t have to feel guilty about being a little over-the-top with the rest of the nights activities!

For more hen party ideas please visit our site or call 01273 225 075.

Sister Before the Mister

Don’t leave the bromances just for the boys, this is your chance to do some top quality bonding before married life kicks in, the perfect chance to spend one more night as a single lady before married life. You can choose from any of the cities in our roster of Hen Party UK destinations where we’ll see to your mini hen party needs with the same precision as we will for your main hen night.

Weddings are a stressful affair from a planning point of view, which means, in our eyes at least, you’ve earned more than just one night out to blow off some steam on the dancefloors of your chosen city. We have the biggest “little black book” of contacts of any hen party planning company so you can trust us to send you to the very best and livliest haunts to mark your bride-to-be’s passage down the aisle.

Please visit our website or call 01273 225 075 to find out more about our fabulous hen weekends start putting together your little piece of Hen Heaven.

“So did you enjoy my big black present I got you?? (sic)” to which her friend and colleague replied: “Had a blast & your present was VERY much appreciated!!! xx.”

Talk about spicing up your life…

It hasn’t always been gifts and platitudes for the pair though, Bassingthwaighte (a nightmare to spell) and The Artist Formerly Known As Scary Spice had a very public spat which saw Yorkshire’s favourite pop star label her fellow judge “dishonest” before the bride-to-be hit back saying Scary “needs a slap”.

Mel teased us further on the hen party accessories front by tweeting,

“You guys should ask @nataliebassing what I got her last night for her hen night out, it’s up to her to tell you, but it’s bloody hilarious!!!! My lips are sealed @nataliebassing is the ONLY one that can tell you!!”

C’mon Mel, let’s play 20 questions… is it bigger than a bread bin? Is it something you can put in your mouth? Wait… don’t answer that…

“And @nataliebassing has the pictures to prove it, if she dare show you guys!! hahahahaha,”

Bassingthwaighte responded with: “Oh yes don’t we have some pics. I’ve lost my voice from screaming so much. x.”

Frankly we’re losing patience… I guess we’ll just have to leave it to our imaginations, though don’t spend too much time, will you, ladies? Only so much time should be devoted to imagining what a big black present could consist of…

We’re off for a stiff drink and a long hard look at ourselves in the mirror. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/hen_heaven.

The story began in 2001 on Catherine’s London hen party,

She recalls: “Kristian smiled and said: ‘Good band’ and I agreed. It was 80s night and New Order, one of my favourite bands, was on.”

“I ­discovered Kristian was five years older than me, a chef, and we shared the same quirky taste in music.”

The pair went back to his flat for a nightcap and kissed. Remarkably she still got married in the morning to Keith, but the relationship soon turned sour,

“Often we argued about something small and every day I thought of Kristian. One day, after a row with Keith, I decided to ring him.

“My hands were trembling and when the ­answerphone clicked in and I heard his voice my heart began ­thumping, but I asked if he wanted to meet for coffee the next day.”

It was there they swapped email addresses and began am email affair for the next 2 years. Suddenly the emails stopped and Catherine saw him in the pub with another woman,

A strange feeling of ­betrayal flooded through me. Whatever we had was over.”

Eventually Catherine called time on her marriage and she finally… ahem… consumated her relationship with Kristian, despite the girlfriend. Although he was reluctant to leave her initially, eventually they split up and the relationship was finally on. A few months later, exactly six years after they met on her sordid hen party London style, Kristian drove them to the nightclub carpark where they met. He proposed and in April 2009 they married.

“­People are amazed when I tell them that I first met my husband on ­­my hen night before my wedding ­­to Keith.

“But being apart for those five years only made Kristian and I realise just how much we belonged together.”

So there you have it, the evidence is in, what do you reckon? Romantic? Horrible? Can’t help but feel a bit sorry for the two people who’ve been messed around by this pair, maybe we should arrange a blind date for them both.

I dunno, weekend now, have a think about it over the weekend and let us know if you think it’s romantic or not. Thanks.

The daughter of Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula 1 boss, has recently starred in a brand new reality TV show in an attempt to reveal herself from her father’s ample shadow. It probably won’t surprise you to hear that Tamara is no stranger to partying and pampering but she’s also planned a hen party or 2 – most notably for her sister, Petra, when she was getting married to another entrepreneur, James Stunt. Tamara was responsible for throwing both the hen and stag nights, which took place at her home – Petra had been expecting a laid back low key dinner at the house but was suprised when Tamara arranged a no-holds barred night,

We had strippers. Male and female. We had this act from the club The Box, who were lesbians dropping boiling hot wax over each other. There was wax all over my carpets and I have OCD, so I was cleaning that up the next morning off my carpet. We had a sex workshop,

What else did we do? There were these girls with sex toys showing the boys what to do with them and all the guys were mortified. We had a shot bar and I was the bartender, making skittles shots and funny shots. It was the best night ever.”

Have to say, that’s pretty impressive, Tamara – if the well ever runs dry we might just have an opening for you over here at Hen Heaven. Give us a shout.

And that goes for you too, dear reader, if you have any hen party ideas or pictures from your big hen weekend packages, do give us a call.

Ah, the proposal – the one occasion where we allow ourselves some sympathy with our male counterparts. Such is the pressure to deliver something extra special and memorable to suitably impress the hopefully-soon-to-be fiancée and her friends, it’s an intimidating prospect to dream up something completely original that tows the line between the corny and romantic. One man, however, has pulled it off with aplomb and is featured in one of the internet’s hottest viral videos at present, ladies and gentlemen, I give you – the flashmob proposal:

Now, you’ve got a heart of stone if that didn’t warm the cockles of your heart, go on, admit it, there’s tears spilling onto your keyboard, you at least found the corners of your mouth rising to a smile? No? You’re dead inside…

Bit more background on this video: the groom-to-be, Adam King hired the Adam Street singers to perform the Bill Withers hit “Lovely Day”. The troupe are a Glee-style singing club who meet up at London’s Adam Street club.

King said:

“I knew I wanted to do some kind of flashmob, but wanted it to be quite intimate – so I came up with the idea of the Overground train from Euston, where we live.

“The biggest problem was making sure Lucy made the train. There was only a three-minute window to get the choir, me and Lucy on.”

The groom-to-be added that many of the choir are friends of the group so it turned out to be more difficult as he tried to hide the identity of the singers from his girlfriend. Neil Robinson is director of the Adam Street Singers and he was proud of the job his club had done:

“For the last couple of months Adam and I have been planning the proposal together and we all got together on Monday this week to rehearse the song. It was quite a military operation.

“It couldn’t have gone any better. We were worried about the train being delayed but nothing went wrong at all. Obviously the choir is extremely happy for them.”

We’d like to pass on our congratulations to the happy couple.

To find out more about the hen night ideas on on this ‘ere website, do give us a tinkle on 01273 225 075 or visit our website. Also check out http://www.idealbridemagazine.co.uk for wedding planning tips and advice.