Once upon a time, a grooms stag night was held the night before the wedding day and allowed him to have a few drinks to celebrate his last night of ‘freedom’ with his friends before getting married.
Nowadays, this tradition has escalated for many into a full blown foreign holiday with destinations ranging from eastern European capital cities, to the bright lights of Las Vegas.
Although stag parties have taken on a bigger emphasis and a wilder theme, choosing a good few weeks to inflict the stag to a night of getting insensibly drunk before the big day, actually makes more sense than the night before. The groom is now much more likely to get through the ceremony without having to be held up by his best man and avoid the wrath of his new wife and her family.
We no longer recognise the stag night, which has instead been replaced by the stag weekend or stag holiday. From Amsterdam to Aberdeen, Benidorm to Birmingham, it is rare to go out in a major city across Europe at a weekend without witnessing another stag weekend in progress.
The stag weekend can change the dynamics of a friendship group too. Those that are your close friends will make every effort to make the weekend, whilst those that are less bothered about your friendship have an excuse not to go; although obviously there are exceptions to every rule depending on whether people can genuinely afford to go.
A stag weekend often brings different groups of people together who may have never met, but have all turned out for the groom. Old friends, family, school friends, university friends, work colleagues all come together as one and is a great way to meet new people. Many a story will be recited when you all meet up again on the wedding day itself.
Stag parties do still involve plenty of alcohol fuelled antics, but if you are heading off somewhere abroad or at home, a number of events are likely to be lined up. This can range from attending sporting occasions to go-karting to paint balling. Anything to break up the many hours you will spend in various pubs and nightclubs’ making sure everyone knows you are on a stag party but are definitely not the stag. He will probably be dressed in some humiliating costume at one stage or another over the length of the stag holiday too, just to emphasise who it is getting married.
If you decide to stay and enjoy what Dublin can offer the modern day stag party, then you are going to need transport. Absolute Wedding Cars also offers a range of stretch hummers and party buses for hire.