A few weeks ago we hosted the official summer opening of our little pied-à-paradise for some of London's lovely bloggers. My sweet friend Caroline of Cocktails and Caroline (she's the wife of one of my oldest buddies from uni - so super yays!) rallied some of the coolest people with their fingers firmly on this fast city's pulse.

I must admit, I was super nervous with pre-party-anxiety. It was a bit like when I had a birthday party during my teens and worried about no one showing up...and also a bit like inviting strangers to my new home where I'd also be exhibiting my 'art' and also be 'public-speaking' about aforementioned 'art'. Nerve-busting stuff.

I was so nervous I hadn't eaten a thing all day, nor had I slept a wink the night before. Luckily I had PB, my sweet mother-in-law, Liz from Blue Sky Flowers, and my buddy Lauren (a friend from back in my banking days who now runs Gloss + Polish - my go-to chic mani/pedi at-home service) as friendly faces floating around me to help calm the scatty nerves and also whizz the shop into tip-top shape after closing for the day within twenty minutes!

I also met Alethiea, of Xander & Thea Photography, for the first time after a year-long Instagram-ship (have I mentioned how much I love Instagram? Come find me! @AngesDeSucre), and it was as though I'd known her for ages. She very kindly not only helped sorting a few things before the start of the shindig but also took the beautiful images of the shop and event in this post. This one's my FAVE of me and the PB.

After a few fresh strawberry-n-champagne rossinis, I was feeling a little more comfortable in my skin, fat-day jumper, trusty 5-year old jeans, my well-worn driving shoes. But it wasn't until I got my bling Anges-floral-macaroon crown by Lila on my head and had the first few lovely bloggers come through our parma gray door that I really relaxed. They were all such lovely ladies, I completely forgot what I was so nervous about!

The pretty faces above belong to Angie (SilverSpoon London), Bee (Bee's Bakery), my lovely florist friend Liz (Blue Sky Flowers), Caroline (Cocktails & Caroline) and Josie (Fashion Mumblr). And the pretty ones below belong to Sophie (Your Girl is Lovely), Laura (Heroine in Heels), Sarah and HARRIET, my sweet Harriet of Harriet Parry Flowers - florist/muralist/all-round-awesome-chick.

We served cocktails with fresh fruit alongside savoury canapes such as blinis with smoked salmon, Balinese prawns, choux buns with goats cheese mousse and pesto. In true Anges-style, it was all made in-house of course (I got to flex my muscles from my Parisian chef days).

And then we had everyone dive into the 'sweet bar buffet' to help themselves to anything and everything! Finished with Coutume blend coffee martinis...but of course.

I felt like the absolute Queen of my Castle (I did have a freakin' sick crown on...) and so at ease showing everyone what we were about, introducing our friendly staff, the exterior, the interiors, our coffee ranges, tea blends, hot chocolates, the marshmallows, macarons, while also talking about our plans of unveiling our wedding boutique downstairs soon too. From what I can tell from reading all the lovely words on their blog posts, they liked us (and our goody bags!) as much as I liked them all!

 What a fabulous evening! Look at those cheesy grins!

Buckets of love,

Reshmi xoxo