I MET SHAWN MENDES! | Shawn London Pop-Up Event

This is a blog post that I never imagined I would be writing. I'm always seeing photos on Instagram and Twitter of Shawn Mendes with fans and I was very confident that I would ever get the chance to meet him... Until I received the email that proved me wrong.

I'll start with Sunday afternoon. I ran myself a bath at about 4:30, planning to read a book and have the BBC Biggest Weekend on my laptop because I knew that Shawn was performing. I'd been reading some of my book (Bookshop Girl by Chloe Coles for anyone who is interested) when I decided to go on my phone. I could see that I had a few emails waiting in my inbox, but I was more interested in Twitter and Instagram. Just before I put my phone down I decided to open my emails and there it was. Right at the top, the subject of the email read: CONGRATULATIONS - YOU ARE GOING TO MEET SHAWN MENDES!

I opened it. Read it. Read it again. Then screamed.

Then I threw myself out of the bath, ran around upstairs and continued screaming. Yes, I had a full-on fangirl moment whilst leaving a trail of bath water and bubbles behind me. Smooth. 

I then spent the evening before trying to plan what to wear as we had to leave the house at 7am to get into London for the right time. I owe a huge thank you to my mum who helped with my nails and ironed my jeans while I was flailing around in excitement on Sunday evening. She invited me over for dinner and ended up doing so much more. Thank you, mum!

I woke up at 5:30 on Monday morning, got myself ready and headed into the city. I arrived in Kensington by 9am and walked to the Universal Music building to collect my wristband. Whilst collecting the wristband they also allowed us to take a photo of the address we need to go to for the pop up shop and to meet Shawn. We were told not to share this "secret" location but an hour later it was posted on Twitter by Shawn Access anyway.

Once I reached the location for the meet & greet we were told that Shawn wasn't going to be for a couple of hours. I don't know if he was delayed or if there was a miscommunication but we all ended up doing a bit of waiting around in a queue in the sun. It could have been worse because it was supposed to rain yet there we were, standing under a cloudless sky. Luckily there were quite a few staff on hand that were giving out bottles of water to keep us hydrated in the heat. They also provided us with a "look book" sheet of the merchandise so we could see what was available in the store. I had a hard time choosing which t-shirt I wanted so in the end I decided to take some time to make a decision at home and order it online. As long as I have it before I see him in April next year I'm in no immediate hurry.

Whilst in the queue to meet Shawn I also made a couple of friends. We had a good chat about Shawn's music amongst other things. We even ended up sharing sun cream after being outside for so long! It was just so nice to meet a couple of people of a similar age that liked the same things as me. I thought I might feel really old and out of place at this event but luckily I wasn't alone.

When Shawn did arrive we couldn't see him from where we were waiting but there was a lot of screaming from those who could. The screams and cheers were how we knew he was there. We were then led around to the store, twenty people at a time, to go and meet him.

We had to leave our bags and phones outside of the store before we were led inside the shop. It was so cute, with his album artwork on the wall, along with the artwork that features on the t-shirts. So now I was ready to meet Shawn.

I walked around and saw him standing there smiling. I can't remember the exact words we said but we said hi to each other, I asked him how he was and he said "I'm good". Then we had a photo taken. We exchanged words very quickly as there were people waiting to meet him but he was so lovely and polite (and tall). When I said goodbye he responded with "bye honey" and I stepped aside to let the person behind me have their moment with him.

I went straight back out of the store and collected my bag, over the moon that I had just met one of my favourite singers even if it was only for a short amount of time. I couldn't stop smiling. I still can't stop smiling.

After we were out of the shop and out on the streets of London again, I exchanged Twitter handles with the two lovely people that I met in the queue. It's nice that we can keep in touch via social media. Just look how the music of one person has brought other people together. 

Heading back home, I was just so happy. Very, very tired but very, very happy. Then came the anxious wait for my photograph. It took a couple of days but they eventually turned up on Facebook:

I look a complete mess thanks to the horrible, humid London heat but nothing can spoil this moment. Looking a bit warm and having slightly frizzy hair can't ruin the fact that I just met one of my favourite singers at an exclusive event. Thank you again to Shawn Mendes for being so lovely and thank you to the people behind the scenes, from the ladies at Universal Music to the security staff.

I also owe a huge thank you to my husband, who was basically told rather than asked to drive me into London on Bank Holiday Monday. Not only that but he hung around whilst I was waiting and when I was in the store and he brought me the bottle of sun cream in my hour of need, so a big thank you to him. 

Also - if anyone is interested - I have an updated Shawn Mendes Book Tag blog post going up later this week, so keep an eye out for that. I'm also thinking of posting an album review, which I haven't done before. Let me know what you think in the comments or through my social media...

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