Last June, Sue - the maid of honor, contacted all of Maryanne’s friends and asked if we were interested in helping her put on a bachelorette party Maryanne would never forget. I was not sure how to help, but I told her I was interested.

Since Maryanne and Phil's wedding was still three weeks off, four of us got together to discuss plans and make up a guest list. Sue told us she thought a roman feast theme would be best since Maryanne liked the movie “The Gladiator”, especially its star - Russell Crowe. We decided it was more important to create a feel of ancient Rome than try to re-create a roman feast in every detail. At first I was skeptical of Sue’s plans which included moving most of the furniture out of her living room and draping the walls and the china cabinet with fabric.

The invitations were beautiful. A golden vine and grapes decorated the ourtside inviting me to be a guest at a roman feast. The details mentioned arriving early, bringing roman attire as well as pajamas, but little of what else was planned. I could hardly wait.

On the day of the party we each rented roman costumes, brought couch pillows from home and showed up at Sue’s two hours before the party to help with the decorations. First the furniture was moved onto the patio and into the den. Pastel fabric was draped over the walls and china cabinet. The pillows were placed on the floor around two coffee tables and all were covered in fabric picked up at a yardage store’s remnant table. That morning, before she left, Sue draped the doorway between the kitchen and living room with a cloth curtain. Flanked it with two rented columns and entwined artificial ivy she bought at a craft store around them. Sue had also ordered a few dozen roses for decoration and to use to scatter petals when Maryanne arrived.

The menu was non-roman finger foods, a tray of stuffed grape leaves and Caesar salad Sue ordered from a local deli. Bottles of red and white wines were poured into glass pitchers, both would be served by the Russell Crowe look alike Sue hired. He even came in gladiator costume. By now everyone knew Maryanne was in for a surprise when she showed up.

While we decorated, Sue was taking Maryanne out to a beauty salon to get her hair done in roman fashion then took her to the costume shop to get her outfit. It was a stunning roman gown of peach colored chiffon.

All the guests had arrived by the time Maryanne got there and we greeted her arrival in roman style throwing rose petals at her feet. Maryanne was thrilled to see us all in costumes and was really surprised at how we transformed Sue’s living room into a roman palace. A harpist was playing softly in the corner as Maryanne took her place at the table’s head. She nearly dropped her wine glass when the Russell Crowe look alike came over to fill it, but the best was yet to come.

We ate and chatted for a while until the doorbell rang; it was the evening’s entertainment. Sue answered the door and went outside to take the male exotic dancers around through the backyard into the kitchen where they could set up their music and begin the show. Sue gave nothing making up the excuse of her neighbor needing to look for her cat in her yard.

The harp music stopped and a dance beat emanated from the kitchen. Two of the three male strippers came out first dressed in simple white togas. They danced around us eventually stripping down to their bikini shorts. They both were toned, tan and so cute. The third dancer came out dressed in a black toga, a comical mask with goat horns and ivy twined in his dark hair. He was disguised as the roman god of wine, Bacchus. His music was dreamy, with a sensual beat and he stripped to his bikini shorts before unmasking himself — he was gorgeous!

Sue was busy video taping the entire display while I snapped photos in between staring at the nearly nude men and dancing with them. Sue and the rest of us kept giving Bacchus tips so he would give Maryanne a special dirty dance. I think he was having as much fun as we were.

After the show we drank some more wine, danced then watched the movies “The Gladiator” and “Ben Hur” until two in the morning. Maryanne mentioned swearing us all to secrecy about what went on at the party, but at the wedding reception I heard Phil joking about how jealous he was that Maryann got a star studded Bachelorette party with Russell Crowe and Bacchus ! All the guys did for him was hire a couple of strippers. Poor Phil.