A Pampered Princess for the Day

A couple of Sundays ago saw me making the 2.5 hour drive up to Stockport to take part in a fantastic Blogger event at a occasion wear company called Florentyna Dawn

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Now, for some a drive of over 2 hours would be a silly thing to do. However, as I have mentioned previously I love a good road trip, and I want to have lots of adventures. This certainly was one of those!

I arrived just after 11am and was warmly greeted by Gail, the owner of the boutique who looked a vision in a full length floral gown. Matching flowers in her hair really set the outfit and the day off to a great start.

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Meeting the other lovely ladies, Lesley, Dawn and Janice was wonderful. They were all so friendly and helpful.

With a glass of bucks fizz and some super cupcakes, were were off!

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Florentyna Dawn is a beautiful clothing boutique that caters for women from a size 6 to a size 50. Now, as you can appreciate, that is a massive size range. I was absolutely delighted to find lots of items on the rack that were just my size AND larger.

There is nothing worse than going to a shop that states it carries larger sizes, only to be told “we keep size 8 – 18 on the racks only, but can get larger. This is of course, frustrating because you don’t know quite what something is going to look like on, until you put it on!

The shop itself is an Aladdin’s cave of dresses, matching hats, shoes bags and even sparkly gems.

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I turned into a magpie. My eyes were darting from spot to spot, the bright jewel like colours. The hats and fascinators, well as you know, I am a complete millinery maniac! I couldn’t wait to get my kit off and get into some of the amazing creations.

Firstly though, I went to the lovely Sarah who was the make-up artist and hairstylist for the day. She gave me a lovely smokey eyed look, and put some very loose waves and ringlets into my hair. I felt so girly and pretty and absolutely loved what she had done to me.

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Then it was onto the beautiful dresses!

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The first I tried was the prettiest ivory organza gown with delicate pink and lilac flowers. This came with the most amazing matching hat, the accent material being the same as the dress. I had seen this dress on the website and knew if they had it in my size, I wanted to try it on.

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However, firstly I put it on totally wrong, missing out the armholes! Gail was very lovely and immediately helped me get into it correctly. Then it was time for photos.

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It was such a light and easy dress to wear, and the shape was so very flattering. I felt so beautiful in this matching outfit, and didn’t honestly think I would like anything nearly as much. How wrong could I have been?

Lesley pointed me in the direction of a mauve two piece, The Florentyna Dawn Mavis. A beautifully cut dress with a beaded lace coat. I have to admit, it was not something I would have picked out for myself. It felt a little old, and I wanted to be the pretty princess, not the Queen. (Ignoring the fact that at 42 I am way too old to be a princess!)

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However, she was TOTALLY right. I put the outfit on, was given a hat to try with it and fell instantly in love. I felt so elegant and beautiful in the outfit. It matched my hair and complexion, and fitted like a glove.

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I have to say, I honestly did not want to take this outfit off at all. It really was so very comfortable, but stunning.

Not that I am trying to rush either of my daughter down the aisle, but certainly when that time comes, I would honestly love to have something like this. It was fitted enough to give me a shape, yet not tight and constricting. I tried this on in a 26, and it was just perfect for me.

As I said before about the ivory and pink dress, I didn’t think anything would top this outfit. Then I found this beautiful three piece outfit from Oni Onik. The colour of this set was so very hard to describe. It had cappuccino aspects, but also was like a dark champagne.

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It also held an irridescence to it, so when you moved the outfit seem to change colour. The three piece consisted of a plain fishtail skirt, a lace top and a matching  little jacket with beautiful turned up cuffs.

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I put the outfit on, and immediately felt wonderful in it. I was given two separate hats that matched it, and this made it even harder to choose which one to wear.

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I have to admit that I tried this outfit on in a size 30. Whilst the skirt was a great fit, the lace top was a little on the big size, but this was purely down to personal taste. I think it looked great on, I would just have liked the lace top to be a little more fitted.

The last outfit I tried on was one I didn’t particularly gravitate towards. It was a black, grey and white dress with a matching jacket and I honestly didn’t think it was “colourful” enough for me.

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But I duly took it into the changing rooms and put it on, not expecting to think much to it.

How wrong could I be?

The dress was the perfect fit. It shaped my waist perfectly, whilst draping my hips lovingly. The cleavage was just tasteful enough, yet showed enough.IMG_3626

The matching jacket was a bolero style, which stopped just above the waistline. This also emphasised the fitted waist, and gave a beautiful shape. I was handed a beautiful black and white picture hat to top it off, and I was in Love.

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I went and posed for some more pictures, and felt like an absolute princess. It was actually my favourite outfit of the whole day!

We all put on our favourite outfits and got together for group photographs. Everyone looked so wonderful in their choices, it was hard for me to choose which one I liked best on each of them.

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Soon it was time to go home, but not before having hugs with the wonderful ladies who had made it such a special day. I couldn’t wait to get home and upload all the pictures I had and share them with everyone.

It really was the most amazing day, and I was treated like a princess, before being made to look like one too! A perfect day in every way.

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I posted various pictures on all of my social media, and I knew I must have done something right when Little Chick messaged me to ask if when she gets married, I could please wear one of the outfits from Florentyna Dawn, as I looked stunning.

Just need to get her a boyfriend first……

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