Bump on the red carpet: Pentahotel launch

Hi Dolls

As a mummy-to-be, nights out are quite rare at the moment (especially on a school night!), so I really made the most of it last week when I went along to the launch of Pentahotel Derby.

The lovely Charlie from The Dainty Bride very kindly invited me as her plus one, so on a sunny afternoon we found ourselves setting off down the A52 on a little roadtrip adventure.

What to wear is always a dilemma for me at the moment - not much fits over my bump anymore - so it ended up being my failsafe black Peaches and Cream midi dress, chucking on several necklaces to give it some glam, whacking on the eyeliner and pouffing up my hair as high as it would go.

I took my new Rebecca Minkoff Mini Mac and actually wore some cobalt blue lace-up heels from Missguided - the first time I've worn heels in quite a while....

PentaHotels are a Belgian chain with branches across the globe who seem to be making inroads in the UK, and I think Derby is their sixth hotel (we all know they need to open one in much-cooler Nottingham next, right?).

The concept is perfect for those of us who love our city breaks or who travel a lot for work and fun, but are bored of the same old Premier Inns and Travelodges. They bring a fresh design ethos and a fun, work-hard-play-hard vibe to things, and each hotel features a unique "lifestyle lobby" - a mix of reception, bar and cafe that functions as a social hub for the hotel.

The perfect place to base yourself for your next girls weekend!

We arrived to a reception where the champagne was flowing. I had a cheeky sip to get into the party spirit, but we had to leave it there sadly, although I would dearly have loved to have been able to take advantage of the very cool ice sculpture cocktail bar and free flowing fizz.

There was some beautiful food as well, so I know you could be a very happy guest there! Sadly I scoffed most of it before taking a picture, but there was also a Haagen Daaz ice cream bar, which made a pregnant lady very happy indeed.

We had a little mingle and I was so happy to see the lovely Steph from Priceless Life of Mine there, who I met at the Peter Pizzeria launch before. She told us that her and her daughter had been doing lots of celeb spotting, so we were then trying to crane around and see who we could see.

I am notoriously rubbish at recognising anyone, but there were plenty of Hollyoaks stars milling around. I only tend to catch it at the gym, but I did recognise the actress who plays Sinead strutting around in a white shirt dress.

We also met Jasmin from TOWIE and her boyfriend Ross from MTV show Ex On The Beach. We were both playing it cool to ask for a picture, but then I cracked and thought we'd get one for the blog. 

Unfortunately, while Jasmin looked like a beautiful elf princess, I looked like a sweaty pregnant mess on the picture, so you can enjoy this one of Jasmin with Charlie instead!

I couldn't believe quite how tiny she was though. I've seen her in magazines and thought she had a great figure, but she looks quite unreal with a stupidly tiny waist.

At least its given me some inspiration for getting my figure back post baby!

The music started which was great. Blue were set to perform - I didn't manage to glimpse them at all, but Steph said she was chatting to them in the food queue and they were lovely.

Sadly, due to me being pregnant and Charlie having work the next day, we had to leave around 10pm, before they performed. We hear the Pentaparties go on until the wee hours, but I would have turned into a pumpkin staying that late, so we made our getaway - but not before getting a picture of bump on the red carpet! Not even born and rubbing shoulders with TV folk!

I had a great time and enjoyed discovering what a PentaParty is all about - I'd definitely stay at one of their hotels the next time I do a weekend away.