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Home > Wedding Blogging

Smashing The Glass Takes Over The Savoy For 24 hours

15/02/2017 by Karen

My 24 hours at The Savoy filmed by Adrian Stone of The Dreamcatchers

Happy Wedding Wednesday! To soften the blow as we all come down from our Valentine’s Day highs, I have an exciting post all about my epic, 24-hour takeover of London’s iconic five-star hotel, wedding and events venue, The Savoy.

I also have a rather extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime accompanying competition to win a night for two at the world-famous Savoy, so keep your eyes peeled at the end of this post to make sure you don’t miss out (seriously, this one’s a biggie!).

Weddings-at-The-Savoy-Hotel As I was given a rare, all-access pass to a world-famous institution and the epitome of the lap of luxury (special thanks to Charlotte Faith, the amazing PR manager at The Savoy who arranged this incredible experience), I had a lot of questions — and was, in turn, provided with a plethora of answers, so it’s worth perhaps brewing a cup of tea or coffee before you sit down to read this post as there is so much fabulousness to take in.

Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London
Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London Accompanying me were award-winning wedding photographer, Claudine Hartzel and world-class wedding filmmaker, Adrian Stone of The Dreamcatchers. Huge thanks to both of them — for Adrian for his spectacular film right at the top and also the longer (and even more action-packed!) 5 minute version lower down in the competition section). And to the divine Claudine for capturing my stay with her fabulous photos throughout this post and on social media. Thank you to both of them for their excellent company!

Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London
Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London
Savoy Flowers A suite with a river view and a second-to-none butler service

On arrival, I checked into my stunning £1,600 a night one-bedroom Edwardian suite with a river view over the Thames, looking out onto London’s much-loved landmarks, where a sumptuous lunch was already laid out for us (as well as fabulous floral arrangements from Savoy Flowers and a Chocolate Delight, which you’ll have to watch the Facebook Live video to truly appreciate). I was then introduced to The Savoy’s head butler, the delightful Sean Davoren.

Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London
Suites at The Savoy come with an indescribable 24-hour butler service and now, having said that, I’m going to have to attempt to describe it in a way that does it justice.

Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London
Butlers at The Savoy represent a living, breathing definition of customer service. In fact, if you look up ‘customer service’ in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of a smiling Sean Davoren proudly presenting you with a lovingly arranged tray of all of your favourite things.

Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London
There’s nothing that a butler at The Savoy can’t manage. They will respond to any request within four minutes, from pressing the dress on your wedding morning to taking care of all the mundane details you don’t want to think about (kind of makes your other half seem obsolete, huh); from drawing you a luxurious, scented bath to sending up a selection of your favourite foods, whether on the menu or not — even packing for you, if you so desire.

Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London_0035 This service came in extremely handy when, in all the excitement of getting glammed up for a night at The Savoy’s exceptional restaurants and bars, I actually forgot my pyjamas. It was only getting to bed, past midnight, that I realised.

Despite the antisocial hour, Sean immediately arranged for loungewear from the gym to be sent up to my room and saved the day!

Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London Blogger review of Weddings at The Savoy Hotel London To further illustrate my point: Sean was once asked to provide fresh-from-the-teat goat’s milk to fill a guest’s bath and sent a taxi all the way to Wales to collect it. How’s that for above and beyond?

Hear some more of Sean’s outrageously entertaining butler tales by catching up with our Facebook Live video below!

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Where wedding bloggers work: A virtual sneak peek into the workspaces of 10 wedding bloggers around the world (including mine!)

05/11/2015 by Karen

Bloggers-Workspaces
Blogging can be a lonely sport and however cosy working from home sounds, it’s not always my personal  idyll. I find it essential  to  be inspired by London and all who live in her,  and I love the balance of working from home with  working in coffee shops (my two local favourites for ambience, coffee, nosh  and friendliness are House Kitchen  and  Ginger & White). I also love  working from my husband’s central London office too. Hey  with a  surname like Cinnamon, you can see that variety really is my (work)spice of life!

I’ve always wondered  where my fellow  bloggers work to see where  all the wedding blogging magic happens,  so I asked some of my wedding blogging buddies to give me (and that means you too of course) a sneak peak into their workspaces.

In case you’re wondering, that’s my home workspace  in the picture at the  top of the page. You can read more about it (and see more images from my home) right  here.

I’d like to add  that this piece isn’t about pinterest-worthy workspaces, it’s about the realities of blogging  and being aware  that blogging magic happens  in many different cosy, neat, noisy, messy, playful, minimalistic, and colourful  environments.

Kat Williams’ (Rock N Roll Bride) workspace in  Reading, UK

Blogger Workspace
Blogger Worksapce
Kat Williams |  www.rocknrollbride.com  | describes her workspace:

I work in the spare bedroom of our two up/ two down house in Reading. I actually love working at home and although the business is growing, we don’t have any plans to move to fancy offices or anything like that! I love that I can literally roll out of bed and start working, I hate the idea of “wasting” the day commuting! We could do with more storage now we do all the online and subscription orders of the magazine from home (argh!) but in terms of where I do my day to day work, I’m pretty happy.

When you live WITH A BOY you obviously have to consider their feelings when it comes to decorating the space you co-habit (boo!) so although I have managed to wangle pink wallpaper in our kitchen and a few fun decor items downstairs, my office is where I’ve really gone to down on the COLOUR and fun. It’s a bit like a kid’s idea of what good decor is haha! It’s definitely not sophisticated but it makes me happy – after all I am staring at it for 8-10 hours a day. My favourite items are my rainbow candles, my Himalayan salt lamp and my vision board which sits right above my computer screen. I also have lots of plants on my desk and windowsill and some of my favourite knick-knacks that I’ve picked up on my travels.

The only thing I really don’t like about my workspace is my desk. Its too big and too dark. I’d really like to get a white one that would brighten the whole space up a bit I think. I just need to convince Gareth on that one. “Why would you buy a new desk when this one is perfectly functional?” is always his response. Oh boys!”.

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10 brilliant gifts for bloggers

30/10/2015 by Karen

gifts for bloggers

I was recently given this  (and I totally love it!)  and it made me think about all the other brilliant bloggy gifts that would be fun and super useful, for blog-aholics around the globe. With the festive season  just around the corner, it feels like  the right time to post these ideas so that any other bloggers reading  this can post the link to their  Facebook page and receive instant perfect gifts!

Covering every kind of price range, some are light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek whilst with others, you’ll be surprised how you ever lived without them. You’re welcome!  Happy Friday folks!

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Chitter Chatter with Annabel Beeforth, founder of one of the world’s most influential wedding blogs, Love My Dress

07/08/2015 by Karen

Annabel-Beeforth
Chitter Chatter  is a  series I’ve been running all about  inspirational women in the wedding industry whom  I greatly admire. These women successfully combine  running their own business with married life and, in a lot of cases, raising a young family.  The ‘Chitter Chatter’  twist is is they have to answer my questions  in just 140 characters or less….

I started this series  as I approached maternity leave back in April of this year, and now that my beautiful little Zara is 14 weeks old, maternity leave is very much behind me. It’s time to close the series, and we are going out with an absolute bang by interviewing  the A-class Bloggess, Annabel Beeforth, founder of Love My Dress.

Annabel has been blogging about weddings since 2009 and took the leap of faith to become a full time professional blogger in May 2011. She’s had phenomenal success, reaping all kinds of awards for her  blog, writing  a published  book, and taking on a wonderful  team of writers and contributers to support her ever-growing blog business. She has, over the years, been searingly honest about her own personal  juggling act  of being a wife and mother to her two little girls  alongside running a young business, and I for one have definitely drawn strength and inspiration from her  self-employed journals.

Annabel  lives by the seaside in Whitby, North Yorkshire with her husband Philip, daughters Eska Eleanor (aged 9) and Leanora Rose (aged 4) and two rescue dogs, Izzie and Winifred.

Let’s hear what Annabel has to say about business and marriage, and everything in between.

What was  your first job?

Washing dishes on a Sunday in the pub opposite our house. Think I was about 12.

Tell me more about your career before launching  Love My Dress

I was a University Principal Administrator managing two teams.  I loved the job at first but found it difficult to adjust to after returning from maternity leave.

What made you start  Love My Dress?

I shared my ‘wedding report’ in a popular wedding forum after tying the knot – the response was phenomenal and it encouraged me to share my wedding to a wider audience. I chose to set up a blog to do so.

Style Me Vintage Book Launch- Ashton Jean Pierre
Annabel’s book launch for Style Me Vintage :: Images by  Ashton Jean Pierre

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Chitter Chatter with Marina Licht, bridal journalist, and editor of Style & The Bride

17/07/2015 by Karen

Marina-Licht
Chitter Chatter
 is a  series I’m running all about  inspirational women in the wedding industry whom  I greatly admire. These women successfully combine  running their own business with married life and, in a lot of cases, raising a young family.  The ‘Chitter Chatter’  twist is is they have to answer my questions  in just 140 characters or less….

Today I’m chitter chattering  to Marina Licht who I had the pleasure of meeting last October  at the Wedding Blog Awards. Marina is the founder and editor of fashion bridal blog, Style & The Bride, and hostess of this week’s snazziest wedding industry do at her Style & The Bride new site launch party  that took place on Tuesday.

She tells me all about attending  Victoria and David Beckham’s wedding (yes really!), editing  Cosmopolitan Bride for five years  (quite the background for a wedding blogger, huh?) and her secret talent for tongue twisters…

What was  your first job?

My first job was as an editorial assistant on OK! Magazine. I used to spend my days photocopying, and was constantly thinking of ideas to get my name into print.

Tell me more about your career before launching  Style & The Bride

I  started my  career on OK! Magazine and got my  first taste for weddings when I  attended the wedding of Victoria and David Beckham. I  went on to become the Editor of Cosmopolitan Bride for five years (and was Natmags, now Hearst’s) youngest Editor at the time.

What made you start Style & The Bride?

I believed there was a gap in the market for an upscale bridal blog aimed at the fashionable/stylish bride.

Marina Licht_0090
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