Yesterday, I was lucky enough to get to go to to Crystal and Crumpets, a fashion bloggers event hosted by Independent Fashion Bloggers and Swarovski Crystallized. I have been wishing for a while that I could attend one of the IFB conferences but so far they have all been in the US. So when I heard that there was going to be an event in London, I had to be there. Despite the fact that I have been blogging for years, I have never managed to meet up with any other fashion bloggers as travel details, family or work have always made it impossible to get along. This time I could actually go so I was beyond excited!

I met with the lovely Kari of East London Style at Cafe Liberty before for a quick coffee and chat about families, fashion and blogging before moving onto the mad hatters tea party held at the Swarovski Crystal lounge.

I got the chance to meet so many amazing and stylish bloggers. Unfortunately there wasn’t time to speak to and get photos of everyone in their fabulous outfits and hats. It didn’t help that my camera has been intermittently playing up and decided to stopped working properly resulting in some dark and fuzzy pictures.

Sian of Rebel Angel and Charlotte of Girl Next Door

Sara of Daily Polish and Suzie Peron

The IFB Girls Jennine of The Coveted and Christine

Anna from The Quarter Life Tales of Annie Bean

Megan Weston of Catlongsighs.blogspot.com

I also met A Thrifty Mrs, Winnie of Diamond Canopy, Bangs and a Bun, Viviana of The Lean Times, The Fashion Recruit, Kristabel of I Want You To Know, The Online Stylist and Jackie of Made With Love.

We ate sandwiches, drank Prosecco and got to chat before sitting down for the panel discussion  which featured Susie Bubble of Style Bubble, Shini of Park and Cube, Nadia Sanwar of FrouFrou, YM Ousely of Signature9 and Mattias Senson of Bloglovin on how blogging can shape your career .

It was so amazing to see and hear from some of the bloggers that I have been following for a long time. In fact it was Susie who inspired me to start my blog. I have come away with the opinion that there is definitely no right or wrong way to be a fashion blogger, every one is doing things in a slightly (or very different) way and that is what makes each blog interesting. What does really matter though is that you do with because you love it and do it with passion. Some really interesting points came up including the amount of hard work it takes to build a successful blog and the different ways of making money through a blog (its not just about advertising).

We were invited to get dressed up and wear a hat to the party, after all it was a Mad Hatters tea party. I didn’t need much persuasion to get dressed up and wear my bird fascinator that I got from The Libertarian at Vintage a Goodwood last year. I missed out on wearing it to a Burlesque event at Christmas because of the snow and have been waiting for a reason to wear it every since.I will write more about my outfit in another post as I don’t have any full length pictures yet due to camera issues.

The exciting thing was that I won the hat contest and got to pick out £200 of jewellery from Swarovski Crystalized. I was completely shell shocked as I never ever win anything and there was definitely some really fabulous hats there.

There was so much amazing jewellery in the show room, with designer collections from Chistopher Kane, Catherine Malandrino and Mark Fast and many other designers all crafted by hand. If you are looking for a really beautiful piece of jewellery, I would highly recommend checking out the shop which is opposite Liberty London or the website.

With so much sparkle in one room,  trying to pick something was an impossible task. I am indecisive at the best of times but after a few glasses of fizz and the excitement of meeting so many people, It took me ages to decide. An incredibly helpful and very patient sales assistant let me try on loads of different pieces before I finally came to a decision. I decided to go for something that I could wear to add a little sparkle to everyday outfits. I chose a double necklace by Camila Klein, gold dragonfly necklace and a pretty  bracelet. Will definitely be featuring these in some outfits very soon.

Such an amazing time, a huge thanks to IFB and Swarovski Crystallized.

With warmest wishes

Ceri X

P.s. If I met you or have featured a photo of you and haven’t linked to you please leave a comment below or contact me with your blog address.