Monday

South West Blog Social


Last weekend, I attended the South West Blog Social in Exeter. It's a long way from me but it seemed like such a great event, with loads of opportunities to meet other bloggers, and, since Exeter's only an hour from Plymouth, I could combine it with a whistlestop visit to Leona too. Perfect!  

The aim of the event, which was organised and hosted by Jodie of a la Jode and Albertine of Dippy Writes, was for 100 bloggers to have the opportunity to network and learn from each other. It certainly worked out as I ended up having proper conversations with at least 11 other bloggers. 

Amy, Carly, Emily and Hannah met me at the station, and we piled into a taxi to The Oddfellows, which was a great venue: Very quirky with little nooks hidden around the place. This book wallpaper is amazing! 

As we sat down and got to know each other better, we ordered some lunch. These gigantic pizzas were £5 each. Billy bargain! At this point, we were joined by Harriette, Tasha, Zoe and Nicole and chilled out for a while or so, sipping on the special BLOG cocktails. 

The BLOG cocktails were so called because they contained blackcurrant juice, lemon, orange and gin (if I remember correctly!). They were lovely, sweet and fruity but also very potent! I tried some of the other cocktails too- Elderflower Fizz was my favourite (essentially just elderflower, lemonade and gin) and it was served in an ultra-hipster mason jar! 

After attending a talk, Carly, Amy, Emily, Harriette and Hannah stayed in the room to chill out and talk about murder. Yep. Just a standard blogger meet up. I was seriously so chuffed to have met up with these girls. They are amazing, hilarious people and we're definitely going to be meeting up again at some point.

After the second and third talks, one by Emma of Jiji Kiki and Adlet, discussing how to monetise your blog, and the other by Jess of Look What I Got and the FBL chat/Facebook group on creating blogging communities, we headed back downstairs. One of the best ideas was the business card exchange, in which you left a pile of your business cards on the counter and could pick up others in return. I have a whole load of business cards piled up, just waiting for me to visit their corresponding blogs!

There were several business owners there, such as Claudia Meller who sells these beautiful kimonos. It was great to talk to different brands and build connections with businesses as well as fellow bloggers.

Yves Rocher sponsored the event, so attendees were given plenty of lovely treats! As you can see, Emily and Carly were pretty impressed! (As an aside, Emily and I both wore pineapple prints. Pineapple pals!)

Another great idea was this huge piece of pink card for each blogger to sign. We spent a fair while admiring all the beautiful handwriting. Bloggers are a creative bunch, after all!

As I mentioned above, we were supplied with some fantastic treats from Yves Rocher as well as the likes of Quiz Clothing, So...? fragrance, and Clique magazine.
It was a truly fantastic event. A huge thank you to Jodie, Albertine and everybody involved for a wonderful day. I'm very glad to have met some great new friends and made some new connections too. Let's hope there's another one! 

14 comments :

  1. I am so jealous! I'm from near Exeter so would have definitely gone if I didn't have prior engagements, would have been great to meet you! x

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    1. Aaw such a shame that I couldn't meet you!

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  2. The bit about discussing murder actually made me laugh out loud, so sad I missed that (yep, I'm odd)! Glad you enjoyed it so much, the feedback has been so positive, were already thinking of planning another one....watch this space (or rather the website

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    1. Yay! Another murder fan (erm... fan might be the wrong word haha!). It was SUCH a great event and I would love to come to another one!

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  3. Aw this looks so lovely :) i am dying to go to a blogger meet up! x

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    1. You should definitely go to one near you!

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  4. Oh awesome! I'm going to be back in Exeter for a year from September to finish my degree, I really hope there is another one! Looks so fun and would love to meet everyone xxx
    La Lingua : Food, Life, Love, Travel, Friends, Italy

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  5. It was a lovely day! And yup, those pizzas were amazing :-) Without sounding stalkerish, I spotted you across the room but didn't get a chance to say hello - it's obviously a bit belated now but "hello!" and *waves* :-) x

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    1. Aaw, hello! Such a shame we didn't get a chance to chat!

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  6. I live near Exeter and was intending to go but felt a bit nervous so didn't - kinda wish I had now, looks like you had an amazing time! :)
    theemeralddove21.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. Aaw, it's a shame you didn't but I'd definitely recommend going to the next one if there is one.

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  7. Haha this post has made me chuckle, it was such a great day.
    You got some really great pics there!

    Emily x - prettypleaseblog.co.uk

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