Style XL 2015, possibly one of the best weekend ever. This is going to be a photo heavy post.
Last Friday i packed up my Micra, took a half day from work and drove to Birmingham for what was going to be a fun filled weekend with so many fabulous ladies. I am actually struggling to write to this as i don't know how to verbalise how amazing it was.
After arriving at my hotel and dropping off my stuff, i drove over to the event hotel to meet up with Tanya. we spent ages gossiping and trying to each others dresses.
We eventually headed out to find some food and met up with a group in the bar and decided to head into town. We ended up at Gourmet burger kitchen - i highly recommend the stuffed burger, it was amazing. It was lovely to have a more relaxed evening and get to know some new people.
On Saturday i arrived at the venue early and got to see the models practising and made a bee line for the Scarlett and Jo stand, one off dresses for £20? i managed to find 2 amazing dresses for Tanya but i didn't buy anything for myself. Then i got my hair done, it was truly amazing, she did such a good job, but it took an hour to do which meant i missed the first few catwalks (without my glasses on i am blind as a bat)
Then i started socialising. Without getting too gushy, the girls and the company at this event is really what made it. They are amazing and we spent the whole time chatting and laughing. We might live all over the country, and not see each other that often, but none of that matters, there is just such love amongst us.
I spent some of my time at the S+J stand and got to know Gifi, the head designer, who was a hoot. He wanted genuine feedback from us about the collection and you could see how passionate he is about it. Below are some photos of my favourite pieces from their catwalk.
My fellow dog fanatic Rosie has her own stand, which was beyond cute and her catwalk looked amazing!
Before we knew it the event was over. I didn't get to see many of the brand stalls as i was just too busy having fun with the girls.
After some food, many more giggles and a quick change of clothes, we were ready to support Sarah in the Style XL Pageant. The bloggers took over 3 tables and caused quite the raucous with lots of cheering and whooping. I nearly made myself horse.
The pageant was fabulous and was focused on body positivity and some of the answers given choked us up a bit but also made us erupt into applause. It was such an uplifting evening seeing all these girls, with such different style, rock it and own it on the cat walk.
We were treated to some singing from Rosie Sullivan, Charli and I couldn't resist a little twirl around the floor and later everyone was up dancing.
I have to make a special mention to Lottie's mum, she was so lovely and so moved by the whole event, it was just lovely to see.
Caroline, the bra guru, got her mitts on nearly everyone's boobs, so now we will all be fully supported and uplifted.
After the pageant we just spent more time chatting (the riot police even turned up - Debz tried to get a selfie)
Sunday, and i was feeling a little worse for wear, tiredness has kicked in, having fun is hard work.
Again the bloggers took over a table and put the world to rights before attending Daisy's body positivity workshop, which was a rip roaring success.
Sadly i had to leave early to try and beat the traffic so missed a roast dinner - gutted doesn't even cover it.
And a big special thank you to this lady for letting me be her shadow this weekend.
I just can't put into words how amazing the whole weekend was, i was genuinely a little distraught when i got home at the lack of fabulous ladies in my life, I think we need to set up a fat commune. All i can say is, thank you Leah for putting on the event and giving us the opportunity to spend the weekend together.
