My First Time Organising An Event - #GGEvent

I finally did it, I got through it; organising my first blog event has been HARD and kept me extremely busy - but my gosh it's been fun!

(Photo by Caitlin)

On Thursday, as many of you already know (and are probably tired of hearing about!) I held the very first event celebrating The Girl Gang - and it was amazing! No thanks to me, but to everyone else who made it a wonderful day!

My biggest worry by far was that people wouldn't have a good time, they would think I'm a horrible hostess or I would embarrass myself a lot. I probably DID do that last one, but oh well! I had Gary by my side all day and he was a huuuge help! From the moment we got there at Dive Bar in Manchester, he helped unpack everything, set up the raffle prizes, get photographs and basically calm me down haha. He's a babe.

We had some fab little extras sent out from Joythestore - like this adorable light up box which you can customise to say whatever you like. You've probably seen a few of these around the blogging community - they're so popular! We also got sent some fun animal party masks to scatter on the tables - thank you!

Once everyone started arriving, the day began to blur! And no, not because of the alcohol, thank you very much (although that probably didn't help things). I was constantly greeting people, talking to as many people as I could, getting photos with people (not that I took any myself, silly Jemma!), organising the raffle and basically just trying to survive, haha.

I swear I can't tell you what an AMAZING turnout we had on the day, so many bloggers I love already, and so many I'd admired but not met yet, were there. I absolutely loved it! I only wish I had more time to chat to everyone properly. But really, there were endless names of awesome people there. So my fear of everyone cancelling was silly, haha.

(Photo by Caitlin)

(Photo stolen from Katie who is BAE)

My absolute proudest moment of the day was learning we had raised over £350 towards Liverpool Whitechapel Homeless Charity - I cried about this properly at one point during the day, when no one could see! It really means the world to me, and I'm so grateful people came today and were so kind. This is what The Girl Gang is all about!

Much to my surprise, a bunch of the girls had also chipped in together to help me get my phone fixed, and surprised me on the day with a beautiful card mentioning it. They must have known I'd instantly try give it back, (after all I don't bloody deserve such kindness) and a message inside saying it was winging it's way to me over Paypal, so I had no choice. I felt so emotional, and to be honest I wanted to cry but I kept thinking.. oh my god everyone is staring at me, DONT CRY. It was emotional. I've been in hell without my phone for almost a month now, and as silly as that sounds, its true! A lot of my business relies on me having a working phone and so it really is essential, but the cost of repair was WAY too much for me. Apparently the girls all wanted to do something nice for me (which they didnt have to do!!!) and they decided that I'd appreciate having my phone back most. I honestly can't tell you how much this means to me! The kind gesture and thought alone is enough to make me tear up. If you were one of the people who suggested this, helped, chipped in - thank you! It meant SO much to me! I owe you all a drink.

We had a fabulous raffle on the day, as I've mentioned it raised money for a charity close to my heart, so I'm really grateful to all the brands involved. So allow me to show them off a little!...

Contributors;

Utility,

Hay House Publishing,

They were an amazing bunch, and I hope the photos do them a little justice with what they contributed. Each brand showed real passion for The Girl Gang and what we were trying to do on the day - spread positivity and raise money for a fantastic charity. I am so grateful for all that got involved - so please do visit them, follow them, thank them. They showed real community spirit! Especially, the smaller businesses and Etsy shops - they deserve all the love you can give!

After hanging out with all these awesome babes for a few hours, a bunch of us headed to V Revolution for some vegan food (which I was quite impressed with!), and then onto Turtle Bay for some drinks. I proceeded then to fangirl over Lauren constantly, and tell her at least four times how much I loved her.

There were so many people I wish I'd had longer with, or wish I'd gotten to chat to more. If you are one of these people - I hope you know I was trying my best to get around everyone! Thank you so so much for being a lovely sod, because you all were.

I've stolen some photos here from Hayley, Holly, Jess and Tore! I hope you guys don't mind! But you all look fab and I wanted to include all your gorgeous faces, I'm so lucky to have met you all.

Can I also say a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE thank you to Carrie who made those AMAZING girl gang cupcakes for everyone on the day! Not only did she bake amazing ones with all the logos on top, she included vegan ones and gluten free, jesus this girl is amazing.

Thank you EVERYONE who was involved in one way or another, whether it was attending on the day, cheering us on on social media, or helping me cope in the lead up to the event. I love you!!

Now, I'm going to finally get some sleep...zzzz.

Much love to all,