What to Wear to a Hen in Ireland

A hen is the first proper celebration of the wedding, and the one where the bride to be is at the centre of it without any of the formality of the day itself. Between the daytime plans, the dinner, the night out and the morning after, most Irish hens run to three or four looks across a single weekend, and the bride usually wants something a little more special than everyone else.

This is a weekend worth dressing for, and the bridal look most of all. At Sinead Keary The Label, our Bridal Wardrobe has cream and ivory pieces for the bride to be, alongside separates and co-ords for the hen party.

Below is what to wear as the bride to be, as a guest, and across the full weekend.

Shop the Hen Party Edit

What do you wear to a hen party in Ireland?

What you wear to a hen party in Ireland depends on whether you are the bride to be or a guest, and on whether the hen has a dress code. The bride to be wears white, ivory, or cream, and the hen party wears whatever the theme calls for, which can be any colour at all. Sinead Keary dresses both sides of that: cream pieces for the bride to be in the Bridal Wardrobe, and satin separates and tailored co-ords for the hen party such as the Lucy Jacket and Skirt co-ord, the Sandra Satin Trousers with the Becky Silk Cami, and the Aurora Jacket and Trouser or short co-ord in a colour that suits the theme.

What colour should a hen party wear?

There is no set colour for a hen party in Ireland. Any colour works, and the choice usually comes down to whether the hen has a theme. A lot of Irish hens run a dress code so the bride to be stands out in the group, and Sinead Keary has pieces across the full colour range to dress whatever the party lands on.

A few of the most common Irish hen themes:

• Something blue before she says I do. The whole party wears blue and the bride wears white or cream. The Sinead Keary Something Blue collection is built for exactly this, with blue separates, dresses, and co-ords.
• All pink or all black. The party dresses in one colour to frame the bride. Pieces like the Chloe Shorts in plum or a full black co-ord give a coordinated look without matching outfits exactly.
• No theme at all. Everyone wears what suits them, and the bride to be simply takes white, ivory, or cream so she still reads as the bride.

The point of a hen dress code is to make the bride stand out, so the group tone matters more than the exact shade. Everyone in a different piece in the same colour family photographs better than a set of clashing outfits, and is far easier to organise across a big group.

What should the bride to be wear to her hen?

This is the one bridal outfit that gets to be purely celebratory. There is no ceremony to dress for and no dress code to work around, so it is often the most enjoyable of all the wedding looks to choose, and the bride to be is the one person expected to wear white, ivory, or cream. The Sinead Keary Bridal Wardrobe is built around exactly these moments, with the Aurora Long Sleeve Dress in cream, the Lucy Jacket and Skirt in cream, and the Aurora Jacket and Trouser or shorts in cream.

For the main night, the Aurora Long Sleeve Dress in cream is a statement piece, and the Sarah Wrap Blazer in cream layers over satin separates when the evening turns cold. For a daytime hen or a hen abroad, the Sabrina Wave Linen Dress in white, or the Holly Linen Shorts in white with the Hazel Linen Blazer, keeps the bridal white in a lighter fabric.

Most brides want two or three bridal looks across a hen weekend rather than one: something for the main night, something lighter for the daytime, and a bridal pyjama set for the night in. All of it comes out of the same collection, and for the bride the cream separates then carry straight on through the civil ceremony, the night before, and day two.

What do you wear to a hen party as a guest?

As a hen party guest, your outfit follows the dress code if there is one, and otherwise any colour works as long as you leave white, ivory, and cream to the bride to be. For a themed hen, the Sinead Keary Something Blue collection covers a blue theme, and the Hen Party Guest Edit and the Wedding Guest Edit cover everything else, from satin separates to occasion dresses.

A few ways to put a guest look together:
• The satin separates. The Sandra Satin Trousers in black with the Becky Silk Cami for a minimal, high-finish look.
• The co-ord. The Aurora Jacket and Trousers or shorts in navy or khaki, for one cohesive outfit with no styling guesswork.
• The dress. The Aurora Short Sleeve Dress in navy or the Sabrina Wave Linen Dress in red for anyone who would rather not think about separates at all.

What do you wear on a hen night out?

Satin is the fabric that carries a hen night out in Ireland, because it reads as occasion wear without needing a full dress. Sinead Keary's Sandra Satin Trousers in plum with the Becky Silk Cami, or the Sarah Wrap Blazer in plum over satin trousers, are both built for a night that starts with dinner and ends late.

A blazer is the most useful thing you can bring on an Irish hen night. It finishes a cami-and-trouser look, it works as a layer when the evening turns, and it means one outfit covers dinner and the bar afterwards without a change.

If the group has agreed a colour, tonal dressing is the easiest way to make a set of individual outfits look deliberate. Everyone in a different silhouette but the same tone photographs better than everyone in the same dress.

What do you wear to a daytime hen or a hen abroad?

Daytime hens and hens abroad call for lighter fabric and a looser silhouette, usually linen or a satin trouser with a simple top. Sinead Keary's Sabrina Wave Linen Dress and Sabrina Wave Linen Top in navy both travel well and work for an activity followed by lunch.

The main difference with a hen abroad is packing. Separates win, because two tops and two bottoms make four outfits in the same hand luggage. Linen and satin also handle a warm afternoon better than heavier occasion fabrics.

For an Irish hen at home, the daytime is usually the practical part of the weekend, whether that is a cookery class, a spa, or a walk followed by food. Tailored trousers with a cami and a blazer over it covers all three without looking like you have changed for the occasion.

What do hen parties wear for a night in?

Matching pyjama sets are the standard for the night in on an Irish hen weekend, and they are usually what the group is photographed in. Sinead Keary's bamboo sleepwear comes in full length sets and shorts sets, so a group can order the same style across different colours.

The practical version of this is: same style, different colour. It reads as coordinated in photographs, everyone gets to choose the shade they feel best in, and the sets keep being worn long after the weekend. Bamboo is the right fabric for a house full of people because it is breathable and it does not crease in a bag.

For the bride to be, a bridal set in white or cream from the Bridal Wardrobe separates her from the group in the same way her main outfit does.

Which hen outfit pieces will you wear again?

The lovely part is that these pieces keep going long after the weekend. Because Sinead Keary is built around capsule dressing, a satin trouser bought for a hen in June comes back out at a wedding in September with a different top, and a tailored blazer covers both.

For the bride to be, the cream separates carry straight through the rest of the wedding, from the civil ceremony to day two. Hen season in Ireland runs roughly May to August alongside wedding season, so most guests are dressing for both in the same few months.

If you are working out what to wear to the wedding itself as well, our guide to what to wear to a wedding in Ireland covers the colours, formats, and dress codes in full.

Shop the Hen Party Edit

The Sinead Keary Hen Party Edit brings the whole weekend into one place; cream co-ords and satin separates for the bride to be, darker separates and dresses for the hen party, and bamboo pyjama sets for the night in. For the bride to be specifically, the Bridal Wardrobe brings together cream and ivory co-ords, satin separates, and bridal pyjama sets designed to carry across a full hen weekend and the events that follow it. For the hen party, the Hen Party Guest Edit and the Wedding Guest Edit cover satin separates, tailored co-ords, and occasion dresses across the full colour range, all of which restyle for the wedding later in the year.

Shop the Hen Party Edit

If the hen is being planned around a wedding that is still in the paperwork stage, the legal notice requirements and timelines for getting married in Ireland are set out on the Citizens Information getting married pages.