At the plan meet last year I was introduced to the Erin Condren Life Planners which I'd never seen before. Shortly after the meet I bought my first planner and fell in love with the vertical box planner layout that Erin Condren is famous for. I picked up my second and third Erin Condren planners later in the year, and at the moment I've found planner peace with my horizontal layout. I'll be uploading a planner layout comparison of the ECLP's later on the blog.
The event was held at Patisserie Valerie in Leeds, and hosted by the amazing Rachel who is owner and designer of EllieBeth Designs UK stickers. Now in case you didn't know, planner stickers have become a massive thing in the UK over the past couple of years, and I'm sure I'd be right in saying that Rachel's shop is the best for planner stickers in UK. I've bought Rachel's stickers since the shop opened, and can safely say the quality hasn't changed, and there are so many vast designs available now.
I arrived at the meet up with the fabulous Beth from Beth Tinkerbell, and Toni from Plan With Tea and we were ready for the Afternoon Tea that we ordered. The staff at St. Paul's Patisserie Valerie are fantastic. They're always super attentive and provide us with an area at the back of the cafe where we can all geek out over all things planner related. The afternoon tea was 'alright', I've had quite a few that have been a lot nicer and this wasn't the best for the price of £25 for two people. I know there are a few vouchers doing their rounds on Groupon and Wowcher but in all fairness I wouldn't even pay those prices. I'm glad there were plenty of planners doing their rounds for inspiration to take my mind of things!
Rachel always makes the event fun; there were amazing goody bags, a table for 'swaps', and a raffle. I was really lucky and won myself a My Pretty Week tabbed divider page to fit into my ECLP which was really useful as that was something I was actually looking for to pimp out my planner.
The 'swaps' table was a fantastic idea this year. You had the option to bring planner goodies and stickers to the meet to put on the table and swap. Well I've been hoarding a lot of stickers for a good while and I didn't think I would get much use from them so decided to bring them along to the meet so others could house them properly. I did manage to pick up some HEMA washi tape and stickers, along with a few ECLP extras that I always find use for.
The meet overall was amazing. I managed to finally meet a few planner friends who I've been talking to on the Facebook planner group for quite some time, and in all honesty it was just like seeing old friends! It was great to put names to faces and make new connections. Above all though, it's always fun to have a look in other people's planners and diaries to get new inspiration! I know I definitely come away with a few new decorative ideas and a couple of new Etsy sellers to check out their items.
