On Saturday 100 bloggers from across the country gathered in Exeter for the first #SWblogsocial organised by the lovely Albertine and Jodie. Firstly, i want to say a MASSIVE well done and thank you to them both because the event was amazing. The event ran from 12-6pm which at first seemed like a long time but they had put so much planning into the day that there wasn't a minute that i wasn't doing something or speaking to someone. I was so impressed with the professionalism of the event and you could see that everyone had an amazing time. I also got to meet up with some bloggers that i previously met and of course meet some other lovely bloggers which was amazing. As soon as i arrived i knew i was in for a great day.
The event was held at a lovely bar just off the Exeter high street called The Oddfellows which i had never stumbled upon before. The event was spread across the two floors of the bar, downstairs there was lots of different things going on including hair and makeup stations, whilst the upstairs was used for the 4 inspirational workshops/talks. There was also amazing food and cocktails on offer which were all really reasonably priced,unfortunately i cant drink alcohol but the special blog cocktails they created for the event looked amazing!
I have to tell you that i felt famous standing in front of this, these were all of the companies that sponsored the event, Albertine and Jodie did a fantastic job at getting so many big brands and local companies involved with the event and the backdrop for the photos was amazing, it looked so professional. There was even professional photographers at hand to document the day.
After arriving and mingling with lots of lovely bloggers i headed over the hair makeover station which was held by a local hair Salon in Exeter called Elksalon where they had lots of different hair chalks. You cant see it too well, probably because of the colouring of my hair but i had mine sprayed pink which i loved, probably the most adventurous i will ever be with my hair! They were also on hand to braid bloggers hair,i think mine was definitely too long to partake in this!
Quizclothing had a little stand up where i got to chat to one of the lovely ladies from there, i am such a big fan of their dresses already as they are so beautiful and exquisite but are at such reasonable prices. I am currently on the look out for another formal dress for a cruise which i'm going on in a few weeks so the catalogue will come in very handy! I absolutely adore the customised biscuits they had too, i will definitely be munching on that this week!
I'm so annoyed i never got any pictures but there was also a lovely lady at the event called Claudia Meller who sells her own hand crafted kimonos which were seriously amazing, i'm after the white lacy one already, you can check out her gorgeous collection of them here.
There was also a makeup station at hand if you wanted to have a makeover or have your makeup touched up!
I gave the makeup stand a miss and headed over to Monkeynails who was doing manicures on the bloggers. I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of nail products that she had, owning over 200 polishes,wow! Nail art is one of my favourite things to do albeit that im i'm not very good at it and would you believe it that i have never had a manicure done so i was in for a treat! Rachel had some nail art examples out on the table and i opted for the tropical palm tree nails which as you can see came out amazingly, i really cannot stop looking at them! I couldn't believe that she had never practiced on other people before or tried palm trees before, i was seriously impressed! I'm also going to have to try and recreate these, although im hoping they will last forever!
The lovely Paige also got her nails done which look fab too, they really remind me of Minnie Mouse!
Entering a blogger event by yourself is always daunting but luckily i spotted Paige walking in at the same time who i hadn't previously met and we stuck together for most of the event which was lovely and we both really had a great time, hopefully i will see her at another event soon.
The lovely Jodie posing with some of the generous goody bag products from Yves Rocher.
I loved the business card exchange they had going on as it was great to leave your own and pick up everyone elses. I picked up about 50, all of which i am really looking forward to going through! It also gives me inspiration to make some new and much better business cards for myself!
I thought this was such a lovely idea that all of the bloggers could come and sign their name and blog name!
Throughout the event they had four workshops running, i only managed to make 2 though which were on The blogging community by Jessica Debrah who is the founder of the blogger network Fashion,beauty and lifestyle bloggers and who runs the #fblchat it was amazing hearing from her as since i started blogging i have managed to make the #fblchat most weeks so i really enjoyed her talk. The last talk was from Ruth from Imp ideas on What makes you - you? Finding your blogging voice. I found her talk so inspiring and it really made me want to think about my blog more thoroughly and get a good schedule going, she also provided some really helpful work sheets to help plan out your blog post ideas and content in a clear manner. I just wished i had been able to attend all 4 talks as these two were really great and they have inspired me to work even harder at my blog. This was the first time that i had been to a blogger meet and there had been workshops and i think it was an amazing idea as it really helped to engage all of the bloggers.
These were all of the amazing raffle prizes on offer with the money raised to go to the Demelza charity. I was lucky enough to win a Neal and Wolf haircare set, i even got to take it home in a The blogger programme bag which i will be treasuring with my life,i love it!
Then it sadly came to the end of the meet where we had to say goodbye to all of the lovely bloggers we had met that day. Of course, we couldnt depart without the amazing Yves Rocher goody bags worth up to £150!
As you can see the goody bag was seriously amazing, look out for some reviews in the future!
Once again i cant say how much of an amazing time that i had and another big thank you to the lovely organisers, i hope you organise another soon! Thanks for reading!
What do you think of this event?Did you go to the #SWblogsocial? What was your faviruite part of the day? Do you have any blogger events coming up? Have you been to a blog event before?
