Plus North

Wow it has been just over a week since Plus North and I think I am now almost recovered!

It was amazing and exhausting all at once and this week has been about me getting back on track and figuring out whats next.

Do you ever get like that after a big event, I find that in all the excitement and craziness of the event afterwards I am totally shattered, in a good way mind you.

Sometimes my mind just likes me to take in and mull over all the fantastic experiences and make sense of them before I carry on.

So on to the event, Plus North was put together by the fabulous Becky of The Ramblings of Mrs BeBe and Toni of The Only Way is Toni, go take a look at both their blogs they are fabulous! 

Image courtesy of Janie visit her page HERE

I helped out with the ticket sales and printing the tickets for the event which is where some of the exhaustion came from I think, I finally finished all the printing and packing at about 2.30am on the saturday of the main event, and then had to get up at 5.30am to get myself ready to travel, luckily I was so excited that I didn't feel tired at all.

This is me almost ready to leave for the station I went for comfortable yet pretty clothing to help make me feel good.

I am wearing

Waterfall Cardigan - Que at Vida Moda

Glamourosa Tunic - SimplyBe

Leggings - Asda

WideFit Shoes - Newlook

I have to say this was the perfect outfit for travel it was comfy, cool and easy to move in, I had decided to travel to leeds first class as a busy train can seriously freak me out and I didn't want a bad start to my weekend.

I tweeted just as I left stevenage to say I was on route and after a bit of twitter chat figured out that the gorgeous Hanna of The Wardrobe Challenge was on the same train as me, so she popped along to first class for a visit, her visit ended up being the whole journey and we had a blast!

Picture courtesy of Hanna

On arriving in leeds we made our way to Aspire so I could drop off Hanna as she had dress rehearsals for the catwalk show and so I could pass on the Tickets to Becky and Toni so that their fabulous minions for the day MrBeBe and Ben could prepare for everyones arrival.

Now I had to race to find my hotel, get checked in and change ready for the fabulous afternoon ahead, I had luckily been offered a nights stay in the Hilton Doubletree hotel in leeds after a poor stay in another hotel in london, and I have to say the Double Tree more than made up for the previous hotel in every way!

The room was beautiful very simple and fairly modern it had a Mac in the room which was the TV, Radio and a Computer to use and a gorgeous bathroom, I like hotel bathrooms, if its a crap bathroom I wont want to stay again :) 

The view was really pretty, I was only on the 4th floor so no pretty views over the city but I loved the lock so I was happy, the walk to the hotel took me down this very creepy tunnel which is where the river flows under, It was incredibly loud but fabulous, I later found out that there is a much nicer well lit bridge a little further up but, I choose to take this route every time!

In all the mad dashes of the weekend I managed to forget to take a picture of my room but I can honestly say I would be more than happy to stay in the hotel again and likely will!

The aspire building is beautiful and on my return I really took the time to take a look around and I wasn't disappointed.

The view from the mezzanine floor - everyone beginning to arrive and settle in.

The internal architecture was simply stunning, if you like that sort of thing like me you would have enjoyed looking around!

The beautiful modern lighting looked amazing on the high ceilings and he massive arched windows, the Aspire building is the old Lloyds banking hall, how amazing would it be if our banks still looked like this!

Ok enough of my personal obsessions :) onto the amazing event itself and the fabulous clothing and guests!

I had the privilage to spend most of my day with Hanna and Caroline

How beautiful do they both look in their fabulous outfits!

Hanna's outfit is a New Look skirt with a Domino Dollhouse Petticoat, and Caroline is wearing a Wallis dress with a vest under. 

The catwalk show was fantastic, all the ladies who were brave enough to take part looked utterly stunning and I was so proud of them all, I decided not to take part this time as once in my life was enough for me!

You can take a look at all the photos on my Facebook page HERE The ladies all looked stunning! 

I did have an official photo taken by the fabulous SimplyBe Photographer so you can see my outfit, I will be doing a separate post about everything I wore to review the items for you, as the lovely Charlotte of SimplyBe offered to provide my outfit for the day as I had helped out with the ticket sales.

I am wearing

Sarong Skirt - Simplybe

Shrug - SimplyBe

Bustier Top - SimplyBe 

WideFit Shoes - New Look

I also want to say a huge thank you to the brands who attended making me feel the plus size market is not failing us, and events like this and plus London are needed to get our voices heard and to let them know we want fashion and fun!

Stella & Dot - F&F - Dea London - Trapped in a Skinny World - Chesca - Life's Big Canvas - Benefit - SimplyBe - Curvy and Stylish - State of Mind - Curvissa - Excite Clothing - Eve Activewear -
Eddi & Bri -  New Look - Style369 - Slink Magazine

All the above brands helped make the event what it was by being there, offering a prize for the draw or a discount code for us to use.

Plus North really was an amazing day and we had so much fun, I can not wait until next year!

Mhairi
xxx