It is surely the most modern of wedding-planning dilemmas – how to organise the perfect hen-do/stag-do for one’s Gay Best Friend. We have no blue [pink] print. We never got to see what Carrie Bradshaw conjured up for Stanford Blatch’s blatcherolette (oh, did you SEE what I did there?) But she most certainly set the bar WAY high for THAT wedding at the opening of Sex and The City 2. So while I can’t magic up live swans and Liza Minnelli at the wave of my groomsmaid wand, I knew I had to pull out all the stops to give my dearest GBF, Ben, a send-off to singledom in the most gay old way.
Upon receiving the honour of becoming a groomsmaid at my first ever gay wedding this coming July, my mind immediately started swirling with the highest of camp ideas for the Ben-do (as we’re calling it.) I wanted a bespoke performance at the Moulin Rouge in Paris! Troupes of bespangled Can-can dancers serenading my darling Benjamin, while fireworks exploded in pink love hearts over the Eiffel Tower! I wanted flamingos! I wanted unicorns! I wanted my Groom-to-be swathed in gold spandex while glitter-balls and fairy lights lit up every room he walked into. And most importantly I wanted pink, pink, pink, and pink EVERYWHERE.
A night at Freedom Bar in Soho was just not going to cut it.
So blow me down with a feather boa, when I soon discovered that as I didn’t have Kanye West’s budget for wedding-planning, we could nevertheless have ALL the above (bar the Eiffel Tower) in Tiptree, Essex of all places.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the ultimate destination in gay hen/stag/groomette dos – Eaton House Studio.
A detached suburban house painted entirely bubble-gum pink. Unicorns in the garden? Check. An entire room of floor-to-ceiling gold sparkle? Check. Fake flowers and fairy lights festooning every nook and cranny of the home? Check. Jacuzzi in the back garden? Check. Local, topless fireman models serving you drinks behind the bar? Check. I mean, could there BE any more of a dream destination for a gay hen/stag do?
Painstakingly created by owners and artists, James Lloyd Roberts and Amy Griffith, the art instillation has been nearly five years in the making. Amy, who used to work for Agent Provocateur, says she was inspired by her upbringing in California to create the magnificent house that has been used in countless fashion shoots and music videos.
Now the pair – who live in a caravan on site - hire it out for all sorts of fabulous occasions, weddings included, and have had famous clientele including Iggy Azalea and Gizzie Erskine. For hen dos there are various packages, starting from £130 a head for one night, which is a self-catering rate, but Eaton House also offers catering from acclaimed private chef, Matthew Dines or an on-site burger van from Burger & Beyond and bartenders in the form of topless Essex firemen.
They also offer pampering, beauty-sessions, hula-hoop lessons and even have make-up artist, Maisy Reiser, who specialises in drag on hand to rustle up the groom-to-be as a laydee for the night. And as my groom-to-be has been known to let his alter ego, Patty O’Table, come out to play at such occasions, perhaps a pink garden filled with unicorns is the perfect outing for her? I will report back.
