Side note – if you haven’t read the post prior to this explaining what were nominated for and what we did to be nominated, then click here.
Last Wednesday I attended The Drum Social Buzz Awards 2015 at the Marriott in Grosvenor Square on behalf of Unite Students. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t extremely nervous on the run up to the event. I am not really one for posh food and heels, and this being my first proper awards ceremony, I had no idea what to expect.
Thankfully, I finish university early on Wednesday so had plenty of time to get ready. I wore a dress from ASOS, silver ‘Cinderella’ shoes from ASOS, a simple bar necklace from ASOS and a short black sparkly cardigan from ASOS. Can you see a pattern emerging here? I just like ASOS, although if you follow me on twitter you will know that I had an absolute nightmare getting my order in time for the event but it all worked out in the end! For make-up, I went for a nude lip and neutral brown slightly smoky eye with a ton of Benefit’s Roller Lash Mascara (which gets a five stars from me).
I was ready in time for the taxi to pick me up at 6:15pm, however, that didn’t go to plan and after an hour of stressing, the taxi arrived shortly after 7:20pm. It was a bit of a nightmare and I would just to thank Olivia from Unite for helping me to sort it out!
I arrived at the Marriott and my driver, as an apology, decided to drive into the drop off outside the hotel entrance. Of course, this is usually reserved for ‘celebrities’ and hotel guests. So therefore, I felt special and rather important, which only increased once I entered the hotel onto a specially laid out red carpet. Cool, eh?
Olivia greeted me on arrival and showed me to our table, which of course was just Team London Student Experience. Just as I sat down, with a glass of champagne in hand, the first course was served: Lemon and Pea Risotto, Mascarpone, ‘H Forman & Son’ Hot Smoked Salmon, Spring Onion Salsa. Now, I don’t eat fish or seafood mainly because I just don’t like it, so this course was actually terrifying for me. However, surprisingly I liked the Salmon and it got a massive thumbs up from me.
The main course shortly followed: a medallion of ‘Cornish Beef’, tiger prawn pie, thyme fondant potato, baby leeks with béarnaise sauce. Yeah, I didn’t know what many of those things were either! Who knew it was a thing to put meat and fish together? I didn’t. I avoided the tiger prawn pie, just because I had already challenged myself with the salmon! The steak was delicious alongside the fancy ‘oh la de da’ vegetables (and not just because it was from the homeland).
Dessert was by the far the best course: tiptree lemon curd posset, buttery shortbread and raspberries. I have had numerous dreams about this ever since (no shame, no shame). Oh geez, it was so good. Now, I am a big fan of lemon and raspberries, in fact, lemon yoghurt is one of my favourite things (the posset resembled yoghurt, well at least I think it did or mousse?). And well, the second shortbread was mentioned this was already a winner to me!
Following the meal, the awards began to be presented. I was there, alongside Jade, to represent the creatives who put together Unite’s London Student Experience back in August. Our category, “Low Budget”, was announced early on into the evening and unfortunately, we didn’t win! Having said that, we were up against LateRooms.com and Warbutons, so to even get nominated was a massive achievement in itself. As the evening progressed, the likes of Lush for the #GayIsOk campaign, the WWF, the NHS Blood and Transplant Team, ASOS, McDonald’s, Barclays, Magnum and Youtube won various awards.
The evening overall was an incredible experience and certainly one that I feel privileged to have been apart of. I would just like to thank Unite Students and STEAK once again for the opportunity. I had so much fun!
