#ECMeetUp – The good, the great and the food

ECMeetUp has come and gone and I’m still reeling at how amazing the people of Nelson Mandela Bay are. I’m not trying to butter you guys up, but PE bloggers, you guys are literally the nicest group of people I’ve met in like, the history of like, people, and stuff. Needless to say, the meet up was probably one of our best, no doubt probably due to the amazingness of Sarah, Ralph and The Boma team. They make us look good. There, I said it. So, after all of the gushing, let me proceed to tell you what went down at #ECMeetUp this past Saturday .

Well, for starters, the food. Because, dude, The Boma’s chefs are the bomb dot com! The theme was “street foods around the world”, and everything was delicious yo! From mini fish and chips, bangers and mash, to nachos, oriental beef skewers, mini American styled gourmet burgers (fresh from the grill… no jokes, they grilled it right there) to chicken with the best peanut butter drizzle. I don’t know. I feel like what have I been doing with my life before tasting these foods. And the dessert… goodness me, the dessert!! Jars of heaven! I had a peppermint crisp jar. Oh and a lemon meringue jar. I would have fit one more in, but I felt like people were watching me, so I tried to behave. And also, the venue is STUNNING! Sarah, Ralph and team always goes above and beyond to make things extra special for your event. Also, our live entertainment kinda just made the whole thing feel legit cool.

Couple this with the funky freshness that is SOGA’s organic juice and you definitely have a winning combination! SOGA was one of the brands that made their appearance at the meet up. They brought along an array of their organic orange juices and Shaun and his wife mingled with us bloggers, putting a face to a name. Coincidently, his wife, Raylene, owns Wear It’s @ and she spoiled some of the bloggers with vouchers for her online store!

Talking about drinks, we were thrilled to have our friends of Dockside Brewery at the event too! Jane gave all our guests a taste of one of their locally brewed beers, and everyone was super duper impressed! Dockside Brewery’s cleverly named craft beers are produced at their PE brewery and have been hailed as some of the best ale that many of the bloggers have tasted in a while. So that says a lot! The Dockside Ale House is the official taproom of the brewery and is definitely worth a visit.

We also had the lovely Tenielle of Afriderm grace us with her presence and amazing product. Elle and I hung on to her every word as she shared more about the product, and it’s origin, with us. The product is for all types of skin (not necessarily dark skin), and works to improve the appearance and quality of your skin. Definitely giving this a go and will post a review soon.

We were excited to spend some time with the delightful Melissa of Fox and Owl Media, Waheeda of Woolworths Beauty, Ranique of Big Mouth Entertainment, Ian of Ootrey and the always gorguess Gillian of Mastertons Coffee and we met the lovely ladies behind  behind KidCoco (Hi, Salma!), Little Lotus Kids Yoga (Hey there Marelize!) and the friendly Dorae of  Bubiroo. Bubiroo is an all natural baby care brand and I’ll be sharing more about them on the blog soon.

Oh and I was so thrilled to see our Geek World friends there too! Dude, they had Harry Potter paraphernalia. There was a Bellatrix Lestrange wand, evens! Christmas present ideas, anyone? You need to get yourself over to their store. No jokes!

We were pleased to host The Health Shack, Christian Art Media, Experience Days, Stylish Steppers and Pink Me Up. Pink Me Up is a scrub brand that smells delish. Oh and Michelle, of Stylish Steppers, is like, the nicest person in the world! I’m thinking about taking Kari to her for her very first salon visit.

Our friend Jonker, of EC Tours and Port Elizabeth Daily Photo, was there to represent the local tourism industry. He celebrates 10 years with his blog this year! Wow, what an accomplishment! Also, I love EC Tours and that they are keen to work with our local bloggers as we work towards sharing our beautiful bay with the world.

Talking about #sharethebay, of course, our amazing Reuann of Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism was there. She spoke about all the wonderful campaigns that Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism will be running soon. So you’ll be hearing a lot about how cool it is to visit PE (and surrounds) and what you can do if you’re in our neck of the woods. Seriously though, this is the best place in the world! (Could be a bit biased, but hey, you can’t prove anything.)

I just want to send a huge shout out to Melvin and Cameron of Yo! Media and Amuse Photobooths. They set up a legit photobooth ya’ll, that had us all acting the fool! What is a function without an Amuse Photobooth?! Pics to follow. And a big shout out to my newly made friend, Jacob, of Sabio Communications. We didn’t get to take a selfie together (gasp, the horror) but I am so thrilled to have met him!

And as always, my most favorite thing was that we got to hang out with some fellow bloggers. We talked shop, fed our faces and admired each others outfits. Jokes were told, clever comebacks giggled at and I think everyone asked me how my baby’s doing. He’s doing well, thanks for asking.

Anyways, was that enough name dropping for you? My pleasure. If you’re an Eastern Cape based blogger and you’re looking to connect, but you’re shy. Like, don’t be. Everyone’s super duper nice, I promise. We’re here to help each grow.

And if you’re thinking, hey Luchae, I wana be a blogger too! Woohoo! Join our tribe! We’d love to have you. Our next meet up will probably take place in May next year and you’re invited!

Brands keen to work with EC bloggers, you’ve made the right choice. Please do drop me an email, and I’ll pass on their deets to you!

BTW all the pics in this post was lifted from Instagram. Search #ECMeetUp to check out these and other amazing memories, shared by our delegates.

And now, I sleep.