Afternoon! My goodness, what a week it's been! I always love coming to London on work purposes but this time has been an extra special treat because it's been The Designer Wedding Show, which means that lots of suppliers are in town to exhibit, which means a great opportunity for me to network and spend time with industry friends and contacts, which is always so much fun.
I intend on writing a full report about the show, next week - huge thanks to Eliza Claire for accompanying to take images of some of the beautiful exhibition stands that were on display.
I'm going to keep this Sunday's post pretty short and sweet as I have a day full of planning to get on top of for exciting blog content coming up; next week we celebrate Valentines day after all, and I couldn't let this pass without doing something rather special :) I'm also busy finalising the stages of refreshed look to Love My Dress that I'm hoping will be going live within the next week {you wouldn't believe how long it takes me to feel satisfied with the tiniest of drop shadow effects!}.
The image below was taken on Wednesday evening this week at The Langham Hotel, where I was in attendance at an event being hosted by Love & Lord, The Wine Chap and The State of Grace where I had my first experience ever of wine tasting and listened to the experts talk about pairing wines with bridal styles. Now isn't that an interesting though? I'll be blogging more about this soon on Love My Dress. I also felt like the luckiest girl alive when I was told that my suite at the hotel that evening would be their top hotel room, The Infinity Suite.
I. Nearly. Died!
One of the many beautiful ceiling lights in The Infinity Suite at The Langham Hotel...
Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Love My Dress Wedding Blog
Bathroom goodies at The Langham...
One of The Bathrooms in The Infinity Suite at The Langham...
The beautiful 'Erte' cape {takes 3 months to complete one of these intricately, hand-beaded designs}. Deisgn by The State of Grace - on display last Wednesday evenign at The Langham...
Tom Harrow, The Wine Chap...
My view into London on Wednesday evening, from my luxurious hotel suite...
Not On The High Street Rustic Wedding Sign Competition - Winner Announcement....
I recently ran a promotion with the wonderful notonthehighstreet.com and Delightful Living, for a lucky reader to win a set of personalised rustic style wedding signs. To enter the competition, we invited readers to share their 'personal moment in time' - a special moment in their lives that could have been anything, but that held fond memories.
We had lots and lots of entrants to this competition, and I'm thrilled to share the winners details with you today. Infact, we had so many lovey entries that Delightful Living have also selected 2 runners up, with whom they would also like to share a personalised 'moment in time' sign!
The very favourite moment was shared by reader Louisa...
"I remember so clearly the moment I knew Mr I was the one for me. We were out for dinner with friends, before we got together. He was sitting at the other end of the table, and I was chatting with my friend and fellow bookworm Madeleine about my favourite children's book, Enid Blyton's 'The Magic Faraway Tree'. It's a simply amazing book about an enchanted forest with a gigantic magical tree, which is so tall its branches reach into the clouds. Every so often, a new land comes round to the top of the tree, and the children in the book climb up and visit.
Madeleine and I went round the dinner table asking people to tell us what their favourite land was. Nobody had a clue what we were talking about. Then it got to Mr I. Without hesitation he said 'The Land of Take What You Want'. And that was it. It turned out it was one of his favourite books too, and we discovered we share a love of old children's literature. We got together a couple of weeks later, and nine years later, we're getting married in August. We're collecting vintage Enid Blyton and Ladybird books from charity shops and we're going to wrap them up and give one to each guest at the wedding."
Love My Dress Wedding Blog - Imagery Supplied via Delightful Living, c/o notonthehighstreet.com
The two readers who will each win a runner up prize are Tanya and Emma. Here are their 'moment in time' competition entries.
Robert & Lindsay....
"The culmination of ring hiding and nervous secrecy came to fruition in the early hours of January 1, 2012. Along the banks of the Seine, overlooking the Eiffel Tower, I proposed to Lindsay, and to my great joy, she said yes. As I grasped for the ring in my jacket pocket, only hours after we brought in the new year, I had the feeling that I can only describe as the one you feel just before you get on a roller coaster: I knew that there was no turning back.
I’ve known for a long time that Lindsay was the one for me, but to go through the process of actually proposing was as nerve racking as anything I have ever done. When she said yes, all the shaky emotions of anxiety and worry were replaced by feelings of harmony, well-being and especially love. I am so happy to be able to say that Lindsay will be my wife and that we will be forever connected for the rest of our lives."
Katherine Wilsey...
"I have to say that our moment in time was the way that we 'met'. Nathan and I went to the same secondary school, however he was 5 years older than me, so being together was never an option back in the day. After leaving school, I went to Uni in Bristol, moved to London and then to the Middle East. On moving to the Middle East and finding it hard to date, I signed up for a well known dating site and received a message from a hot blonde, also living in the Middle East, entitled 'Well well well...'. It was Nathan - 15 years on!!! Little did we know, but our paths almost crossed many times - In our home town, in Bristol and in London, but it took us both to move all the way to the middle of the desert to find each other through an internet dating site! Love has a weird way of working out hey?"
Well done guys! Expect an email to arrive very soon advising you of how you can claim your prizes. Huge thanks to both Delightful Living and notonthehighstreet.com for being so easy and fun to work with on this collaboration :) You can read many more special moments shared by Love My Dress readers here.
On Love My Dress this week...
♥ A Theatre Wedding For A Bride Who Made Her Own Dress...
♥ Finger Curls and Flowers in her Hair ~ Glamorous Styling Inspiration for Brides and Bridesmaids...
♥ A Norwegian Affair in London...
♥ London City Chic Wedding Inspired by Art Deco Glamour...
♥ What Are Your 'Rules To Love By'? Share & Win A Typographic Work Of Art For Valentines Day From More Than Words **competition open until midnight tonight!**
♥ Marlene Dietrich Meets Florence Welch ~ Bespoke Bridal Wear Inspired by 1930s Art Deco...
♥ How to make a butterfly gift/favour box...
♥ Bridal Inspiration Board - All You Need Is Love...
♥ Gatsby Glamour...
This week I have been appreciating....
♥ London. You have spoilt me this week. My love affair for this amazing city has grown even stronger. London, I heart you ♥ Having an evening of unadulterated luxury in the top suite at the Langham Hotel ♥ Dining with Sarah Haywood at Le Cercle {best creme brulee in the world!} ♥ Chatting with Sassi Holford ♥ Helping Anna celebrate her 30th birthday {with a surprise invitation to join me in aforementioned suite ♥ Meeting the Love & Lord team {<--- brides wanting an Italian wedding look here!} ♥ Learning more than I have ever learned before about wines, thanks to The Wine Chap ♥ Listening to Lucia Silver talk passionately about her designs and working with Brides - truly inspirational {ladies looking for bespoke design, please visit Lucia and do not be afraid that bespoke means £££ - it doesn't!} ♥ Visiting Juno Says Hello for the first time after tweeting with owner Rebecca for two years, and departing with a gorgeous 1940's dress and a cute little 1960s Jackie-O style number ♥ Lunching with the Reverie girls ♥ Being transformed into something half resembling a movie star, thanks to the magic of Lucy Baker and Severin Hubert ♥ A day of fun with Eliza Claire ♥ Three very comfortable and enjoyable nights stay at The Rockwell Hotel ♥ looking at photos on my iPhone that my Husband has sent me of our little girls playing {miss you girls, can't WAIT to get of this train and have big hugs!!} ♥ Seeing Mrs Caudery ♥ Midnight meals at Pizza Express ♥ Getting in to a huge bath full of rose petals ♥ My new Bertie shoes ♥ The taxi drivers over the past few days all of whom were charming and helpful, bar one rather miserable chap. No tip there then. ♥ The prettiness at The Designer Wedding Show ♥ Watching Paul Antonio at work - mesmerising ♥ A lovely gift from Penhaligons {thank you so much Anna!} ♥ My bathroom freebies from The Langham {more Penhaligons!} ♥
What have you been appreciating this week?
On Love My Dress next week...
♥ Win a weekend here....
♥ Opportunity for you to win a full wedding photography package!
♥ And I lay a bare a few facts for discussion...
I'd love to know what you have been up to this past few days and what you're looking forward to next week. Valentines!!! ;)
Have a lovely afternoon everyone :)
Annabel
♥
