Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for the London Mix and Mingle social evening at the Haymarket Hotel on the 18th September. We had over 100 people come along and it was fabulous to see so many UKAWP colleagues, good friends and wedding suppliers mixing and mingling around the swimming pool of this stunning venue.

We would like to send a massive thank you to those who took part and made the night such a great success. All the suppliers who take part in the event do so on a complimentary basis and we are enormously grateful to our wonderful suppliers for their time and talents.

We would like to thank Katie Heath from John Nassari Ltd for the lovely images in this blog. Thank you for capturing the evening so beautifully.

It all starts with the venue and this year we were delighted that Firmdale Hotels offered to be our main sponsor and provide the Swimming Pool and Bar at the Haymarket Hotel for our event. Alex Drinkwater and everyone at the Haymarket Hotel were fabulous hosts and were instrumental in helping us create a “Glamorous Pool Party” in the heart of London’s West End.

This enormous space is all about the sleek 55 foot (18m) swimming pool which is edged in stone, surrounded by acres of grey oak and has a ceiling covered in hundreds of fibre-optic lights. There is a pewter bar and a spectacular lighting scheme that uses strong contrasts of light and shadow and an ever-changing colourful light installation by Martin Richman.

The Haymarket Hotel also provided the super non-stop canapes and cocktails for the evening, all served in quirky glasses to match our “glamourous pool party” theme. The mini ice-cream cones went down a treat.

No pool party would be complete without some ice lollies, but for our event they were alcoholic “poptails” from the amazing team at Poptails by LAPP , in the delicious flavours of Limon Colada, Tropical Rum Punch and Strawberry Mojito. Yummy!

The focal point of the room was clearly the swimming pool, so the lovely Mikyla from the Essex Occasions Co provided the stunning balloons that gently floated above the pool and the lanterns that surrounded it.

One of the highlights of the evening was the gorgeous dessert station of French patisserie by the super talented Corinne Payet at Gourmandises who is one of our supplier members . It looked too pretty to eat – but somehow, we managed!

Lucy Boyd from Green & Envy  added that extra touch of glamour to our décor for the evening with her elegant flowers arrangements.

Entertainment was provided by Stephanie Wallis and Andrew Laundy of Boutique Booths of Safe and Sound Events one of our supplier members. This was the place where guests really let their hair down and we saw the lighter side of life in the wedding world. Andrew really knows how to get a party started.

Magician Stephen James of Stephen James Magic one of our supplier members dazzled our guests with his clever tricks and sleight of hand.

We always try to do things a little differently with our name badges and this year supplier member Vaishali Shah of Ananya Stationery  created our balloon lanyards and then the team from Stylish Events  handmade the golden balloons to hang the badges in a unique way. It took 5 wedding planners and a florist to make it all happen, but I think we got their end!

Jo from Jo Films Weddings  was our videographer for the evening and we will be posting the video on our Facebook page  and YouTube channel  pages soon.

Thank you to everyone for sharing your pictures from the event on social media. Please feel free to join in and if you wish to add anything please use #ukawp #haymarkethotel

Much love and appreciation to this year’s organising team:

Dominique, Sara and Ellie from Stylish Events (www.stylishevents.com)

Caroline Sian Bishop from Caroline Sian Weddings & Events (www.carolinesianweddings.co.uk/)

Valentina Ring from The Stars Inside (www.thestarsinside.com)

Stephanie Wallis from Safe and Sound Events Events (www.safeandsoundevents.com)

Vaishali Shah from Ananya Cards (www.ananyacards.com)

April Moores from Kook Events (www.kookevents.co.uk)

Katie Stocks from Event Designers (www.theeventdesigners.com)

Clarice Lees from Cleectic Love Events (https://instagram.com/clee_love/)